JP2012201900A - Film deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a film deposition apparatus capable of depositing a multilayered film, wherein the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced.SOLUTION: The film deposition apparatus is structured to deposit a film onto an inner surface of a substrate to be treated while winding the substrate around a deposition treatment drum at a prescribed angle and continuously or intermittently transferring the substrate, so that the size of the entire apparatus is reduced. The multilayered film can be readily deposited by rotating a rotary drum equipped with a film deposition source in the deposition treatment drum.

Description

  The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus for forming a thin film on a substrate. More specifically, the present invention relates to a film forming apparatus that performs film formation while conveying a substrate continuously or intermittently.

  Methods for forming a thin film using a vapor phase are roughly classified into a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method.

  Typical examples of PVD include vacuum deposition and sputtering. In particular, sputtering is generally high in equipment cost, but can produce high-quality thin films with excellent film quality and film thickness uniformity. Widely applied to such as.

  In CVD, a raw material gas is introduced into a vacuum chamber, and one or more gases are decomposed or reacted on a substrate by thermal energy to grow a solid thin film. In order to promote the reaction or lower the reaction temperature, there are some which use plasma or a catalytic reaction in combination. One that uses plasma in combination is called PECVD (Plasma Enhanced CVD), and one that uses catalyst reaction in combination is called Cat-CVD (Catalytic CVD). The chemical vapor deposition method is characterized by few film formation defects, and is mainly applied to semiconductor device manufacturing processes such as gate insulating film formation.

  In recent years, attention has been paid to atomic layer deposition (ALD: Atomic Layer Deposition). ALD is a method of depositing a surface-adsorbed substance layer by layer at the atomic level by a chemical reaction on the surface, and is classified as CVD. ALD is distinguished from general CVD by the fact that general CVD uses a single gas or a plurality of gases simultaneously to react on a substrate to grow a thin film, whereas ALD uses a precursor ( Alternatively, an active gas called a precursor (also called a precursor) and a reactive gas (also called a precursor in ALD) are alternately used to grow a thin film one layer at an atomic level by adsorption and subsequent chemical reaction on the substrate surface. There is a special film formation method.

  Specifically, when the surface is covered with a certain type of gas during surface adsorption, the self-limiting effect that does not cause further gas adsorption is used. The reaction precursor is evacuated. Subsequently, a reactive gas is introduced to oxidize or reduce the precursor and obtain a thin film having a desired composition, and then the reactive gas is exhausted. This cycle is defined as one cycle, and this cycle is repeated to grow a thin film one layer at a time. Therefore, in ALD, the thin film grows two-dimensionally. ALD is characterized in that it has fewer film-forming defects than conventional CVD and sputtering as well as conventional vapor deposition and sputtering, and is expected to be applied in various fields.

  In ALD, there is a method of using plasma to activate the reaction in the step of decomposing the second precursor and reacting with the first precursor adsorbed on the substrate, which is a plasma activated ALD ( PEALD: Plasma Enhanced ALD) or simply Plasma ALD.

  The ALD technology itself was developed in 1974 by Finnish Dr. Proposed by Tuomo Suntola. Since a high-quality and high-density film can be obtained, applications such as a gate insulating film are being advanced in the semiconductor industry, and it is also described in ITRS (International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors). In addition, because it has a feature such as no slanting effect compared to other film formation methods, film formation is possible if there is a gap through which gas can enter, as well as line and hole coating with a high aspect ratio, as well as a three-dimensional structure. It is expected to be applied to MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) related to the coating of materials.

  The disadvantages of ALD include the use of special materials and their costs, but the biggest drawback is that ALD is a method of growing thin films at the atomic level layer by layer in one cycle. Is slow. It is about 5 to 10 times slower than film forming methods such as vapor deposition and sputtering.

  The target for forming a thin film using the film forming method as described above is a small plate-like substrate such as a wafer or a photomask, a large area such as a glass plate that is not flexible, or a large area such as a film. There are various types such as flexible substrates. In response to this, mass production facilities for forming thin films on these substrates have proposed and put to practical use various substrate handling methods depending on cost, ease of handling, film formation quality, and the like.

  For example, in a wafer, a single substrate is supplied to a film forming apparatus to form a film, and then replaced with the next substrate to form a film again, or a plurality of substrates are set together and the same for all wafers There is a batch type for forming the film.

  In addition, as a method of forming a film on a glass substrate or the like, an in-line type in which film formation is performed simultaneously while sequentially transporting the substrate to a source of film formation, and moreover, mainly for a flexible substrate There is a so-called roll-to-roll web coating method in which a substrate is unwound from a roll, film is formed while being conveyed, and the substrate is wound on another roll. The web coating method includes not only a flexible substrate but also a method of continuously forming a flexible sheet on which a substrate to be deposited can be continuously conveyed or a tray on which a part of the substrate is flexible.

  As for any film forming method and substrate handling method, an optimum combination is adopted in consideration of cost, quality, ease of handling, and the like.

In the formation of an optical film or the like, it is necessary to form different types of thin films in multiple layers. In ALD, depending on the film thickness, 100 to 200 cycles of precursor exposure are performed to form a film. In such a case, the web coating method using a flexible substrate requires one film forming source for one layer.
For this reason, there has been proposed a film forming apparatus in which a plurality of film forming sources are provided and a plurality of cycles of film forming are performed in one process.

  As such conventional film forming apparatuses, there are those disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2. The film forming apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 performs film formation using ALD in a vacuum chamber, and transports a thin film substrate wound around the outer surface of a processing drum between two rolls. The film is formed on the outer surface of the thin film substrate by a plurality of film forming sources arranged radially on the outer periphery of the processing drum. A sufficiently thick layer can be formed by exposing the substrate to a plurality of deposition sources.

  In addition, the film forming apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 performs film formation using CVD, and transports a film forming tape wound around the outer surface of the film forming roller between the two rollers. The film is formed on the outer surface of the film-forming tape by a plurality of CVD units arranged radially on the outer periphery of the film-forming roller. The multilayer film can be efficiently formed without time waste.

Special table 2007-522344 International Publication No. 2006/093168

  However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 has a disadvantage that the entire apparatus is larger than the processing drum because a plurality of film forming sources are arranged radially on the outer periphery of the processing drum. . In addition, as the number of cycles increases, the size of the equipment increases, and the production cost and the area occupied by the equipment increase.

  In addition, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 has a disadvantage that the entire apparatus becomes large because a plurality of CVD portions are arranged radially on the outer peripheral portion of the film forming roller in order to perform multilayer processing by CVD. It was.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a film forming apparatus capable of forming a multilayer film by making the entire apparatus small.

  The present invention employs the following configuration in order to solve the above problems.

In the present invention, the film formation substrate is transferred to the surface of the film formation substrate by the film formation source while the film formation substrate is continuously or intermittently transferred by the substrate transfer unit in a state where the film formation substrate is wound around the processing drum by a predetermined angle. The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus for forming a film.
The processing drum is provided with at least one film forming source and includes a rotating drum that is rotationally driven by the rotational driving unit, and the rotational driving unit has a speed different from the transport speed of the deposition target substrate by the substrate transporting unit. The film formation is performed by a film formation source on the surface of the film formation substrate on the processing drum side while rotating the rotating drum.

  Further, the film formation source is a film formation source by an atomic layer deposition method, and the film formation is performed by ALD.

  The film forming source includes a plurality of gas discharge portions and gas exhaust portions.

  Further, the film forming source includes at least three gas discharge portions, and the first precursor, the second precursor, and the purge gas are discharged from the three gas discharge portions, respectively.

  Further, the deposition target substrate is a flexible substrate.

  In addition, the moving speed of the outer peripheral portion of the rotating drum is relatively high with respect to the transport speed of the deposition target substrate.

  Further, the present invention is characterized by having a mechanism for generating or irradiating plasma in the substrate transfer path.

  In addition, a mechanism for unwinding and / or winding the deposition target substrate is provided.

  Further, a plurality of rotating drums are provided.

  And the board | substrate covers the outer periphery of this rotating drum over the range of 90% or more of 360 degrees of circumferential directions, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  According to the present invention, since it has the above-described features, the following can be achieved.

That is, the film forming substrate is formed on the surface of the film forming substrate by the film forming source while the film forming substrate is continuously or intermittently transferred by the substrate transfer unit while the film forming substrate is wound around the processing drum by a predetermined angle. In the film forming apparatus, the processing drum includes at least one film forming source, and includes a rotating drum that is rotationally driven by the rotational driving unit. Since the film formation source is used to form a film on the processing drum side surface of the film formation substrate while rotating the rotating drum at different speeds, the entire apparatus can be downsized, and the film is formed while rotating the rotating drum. It was possible to form a multilayer film.
In addition, when the film forming source of the rotating drum is 1, the rotating drum becomes smaller, so the entire apparatus becomes smaller. When there are a plurality of film forming sources, a plurality of films are formed every time the rotating drum is rotated. It becomes possible to do.

  Further, the film formation source is a film formation source by an atomic layer deposition method, and film formation is performed by ALD. Therefore, ALD is a method of growing an atomic level thin film layer by layer in one cycle. However, by rotating the film forming source, multilayer formation can be facilitated, and the disadvantages of ALD can be eliminated.

  In addition, since the film formation source includes a plurality of gas discharge units and gas exhaust units, the gas that has not been adsorbed to the deposition target substrate can be exhausted quickly, and the generation of particles can be suppressed and a high quality film can be obtained. it can.

  In addition, the film forming source includes at least three gas discharge portions, and the first precursor, the second precursor, and the purge gas are discharged from the three gas discharge portions, respectively. It has another gas release part and can be processed without mixing.

  In addition, since the film formation substrate is a flexible substrate, a so-called air film portion is formed between the inner surface of the rotating drum portion by the gas released from the surface of the rotating drum portion, and the rotating drum portion is smooth. Can be rotated.

  In addition, since the moving speed of the outer peripheral portion of the rotary drum is relatively fast with respect to the deposition speed of the deposition target substrate, a multilayer film can be formed by transporting the deposition target substrate once.

  In addition, since it has a mechanism for generating or irradiating plasma in the substrate transport path, when ALD is used, even if the substrate is separated from the rotating drum with the unreacted precursor adsorbed, or Can be removed. When the substrate passes through the plasma region obtained by the mechanism for generating or irradiating plasma, passes through the outer periphery of the rotating drum, and then passes through the plasma region again, there is only one mechanism for generating or irradiating plasma. Even in the first pass of the plasma region, the substrate can be cleaned or the adhesion state can be improved by modifying the surface state of the substrate, and the unreacted precursor described above in the second pass after film formation. Thus, two effects can be obtained at the same time.

  In addition, since a film formation substrate unwinding and / or winding mechanism is provided, film formation by roll-to-roll can be performed, and productivity can be improved.

  In addition, since a plurality of rotating drums are provided, different types of film formation can be continuously performed on the film formation substrate.

  And since the substrate covers the outer periphery of the rotating drum over a range of 90% or more of 360 ° in the circumferential direction, the deposition target substrate covers most of the outer periphery of the rotating drum in the circumferential direction. The diffusion of the material gas outside the rotating drum is suppressed, and the material can be used efficiently. Moreover, it is not necessary to install a shield for suppressing diffusion, and a thin film is formed on the shield, which is free from the problem of particle generation due to separation during film formation.

Schematic of the film forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention Schematic of the principal part of the film-forming apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment 1 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of a film forming apparatus according to a first embodiment. Schematic of the principal part of the film forming apparatus according to the first embodiment 1 is a perspective view of a part of a main part of a film forming apparatus according to a first embodiment. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a main part of a film forming apparatus according to a first embodiment. Schematic of the film-forming apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the film forming apparatus 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an assembled state of the processing drum 100 which is a main part of the film forming apparatus 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view when the processing drum 100 is disassembled. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a rotating drum portion 101 and a rotating shaft portion 102 which are the main parts of the processing drum 100. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the rotating shaft 101. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which the rotating shaft portion 101 and the substrate guide portion 103 are combined.

  The film forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is an apparatus that performs a film forming process on a flexible substrate (film forming substrate) 2 by a processing drum 100 using an atomic layer deposition method. As shown in FIG. 1, the film forming apparatus 1 includes a processing drum 100, an unwinding roll 3, a winding roll 4, an unwinding side guide roller 5, a winding side guide roller 6, a plasma apparatus 7, and a chamber 8. The entire film forming apparatus 1 is housed in a chamber 8. The inside of the chamber 8 is kept in a vacuum by a vacuum pump (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 1, the flexible substrate 2 is unwound from the unwinding roll 3, wound around the outer periphery of the processing drum 100 by a unwinding side guide roller 5 and a winding side guide roller 6, and conveyed. It is wound up by a winding roll 4.
A film forming process is performed on the inner surface of the flexible substrate 2 wound around the processing drum 100 by a film forming source provided on the processing drum 100.

  The flexible substrate 2 is a flexible long film, and is continuously formed by the unwinding roll 3, the unwinding side guide roller 5, the processing drum 100, the winding side guide roller 6, and the winding roll 4. Or it is conveyed intermittently.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the flexible substrate 2 covers 90% or more of the outer periphery of the rotating drum 102 out of 360 ° in the circumferential direction. By configuring in this way, diffusion of gas diffusion is prevented, mixing of different gases is prevented, and generation of particles is prevented.

  Next, the processing drum 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the processing drum 100 includes a rotating drum unit 101, a rotating shaft unit 102, and a substrate guide unit 103. In FIG. 3, the single substrate guide 103 on the right side is not shown.

  The rotating drum unit 101 is driven to rotate around the rotating shaft unit 102 by a processing drum rotation driving unit (not shown). The substrate guide portion 103 has a disk shape with a round hole in the center, is provided on both sides of the rotating drum portion 101, and is configured to be rotatable around the outer peripheral portion of the rotating shaft portion 102. Independently of the rotation of the rotating drum unit 101, the substrate guide unit 103 is rotationally driven by a substrate guide rotation driving unit (not shown). The rotation of the processing drum rotation driving unit and the substrate guide rotation driving unit is controlled by a control unit (not shown). The rotating shaft 102 is fixed without rotating, and the pipe 104 is connected.

  In FIG. 2, the outer width of the left and right substrate guide portions 103 is formed substantially the same as the width of the flexible substrate 2. Since both ends in the width direction of the flexible substrate 2 are wound so as to cover the outer periphery of the substrate guide portion 103, the inner surface of the flexible substrate 2 is held at the same diameter as the outer shape of the substrate guide portion 103. When the substrate guide portion 103 is rotationally driven, the flexible substrate 2 whose outer edge is wound around the substrate guide portion 103 is also rotationally driven and conveyed.

  In FIG. 2, the outer diameter of the rotating drum portion 101 is smaller than the outer diameter of the left and right substrate guide portions 103 by a predetermined dimension. The rotary drum unit 101 is rotationally driven on the inner surface of the flexible substrate 2 wound around the rotary drum unit 101. As will be described later, since gas is released from the surface of the rotating drum unit 101, when the flexible substrate 2 is thin, an air film unit is formed between the inner surface of the rotating drum unit 101 and the surface of the rotating drum unit 101. The drum unit 101 rotates smoothly.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of partitions are formed on the surface of the rotating drum unit 101, and a concave portion 106 is formed which forms a partition (small chamber with an open upper surface) partitioned by the partitions. A discharge portion 105 is provided. On the surface of the rotary drum portion 101, gas discharge portions 105 (eight strips in the present embodiment) having discharge holes arranged in the width direction that is a direction substantially parallel to the rotation center are formed. A recess 106 that extends in the width direction is provided between the gas discharge portions 105, and a recess opening 107 is provided at the bottom of the recess 106.

  Four gas discharge portions 105a, 105c, 105b, and 105c are formed in order on the surface of the rotary drum 101 in the rotation direction of the rotary drum portion 101, and these correspond to different gases as described later. Further, one cycle of film formation can be performed by the gas discharge portions 105a, 105c, 105b, and 105c. In this embodiment, eight gas discharge portions 105 are formed, and the gas discharge portions 105 are formed in the same order on the opposing surfaces of the gas discharge portions 105a, 105c, 105b, and 105c. The film forming process can be performed.

  As shown in FIG. 4, four grooves 108 a, 108 b, 108 c, and 108 d are formed in the radial direction in the central portion of the rotating shaft portion 102. A pipe 104 composed of four connecting pipes is provided on one end face of the rotating shaft portion 102. The four groove portions 108a, 108b, 108c, and 108d communicate with the pipe 104 including four connecting pipes, respectively. The thicker connecting pipe of the pipes 104 communicates with the wide groove 108d of the four grooves 108a, 108b, 108c, and 108d.

  As shown in FIG. 4, on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 102 on both sides of the four grooves 108a, 108b, 108c, and 108d, a seal portion 109 that is endless in the radial direction is formed. The seal portion 109 is made of a magnetic fluid, and the magnetic fluid fills the gap between the inner cylindrical portion of the rotary drum portion 101 and the rotary shaft portion 102, whereby the groove portions 108 are sealed.

  As shown in FIG. 6B, the recess opening 107 is opened at a position corresponding to the wide groove 108d. Eventually, the recess 106 communicates with the thicker connecting pipe of the pipes 104 through the recess opening 107. Since the groove 108d is provided continuously on the outer periphery, the positional relationship of the recess opening 107 is maintained even when the rotary drum 101 rotates.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, the gas discharge portions 105 a, 105 b, and 105 c have inner surface openings (not shown) in the inner surface cylindrical portion of the rotating drum portion 101, and these inner surface openings are groove portions 108 a, 108 b, and 108 c. It corresponds to each. The inner surface opening portion communicates with the gas discharge portions 105a, 105b, and 105c, and the groove portions 108a, 108b, and 108c corresponding to the inner surface opening portion respectively communicate with the connection pipe of the pipe 104. 105a, 105b, and 105c are communicated with each other.

  Next, a film forming process on the inner surface of the flexible substrate 2 by the rotating drum unit 101 will be described. A first precursor, a purge gas, a second precursor, and a purge gas are supplied from the pipe 104 to the gas discharge portions 105a, 105b, and 105c, and the respective gases are discharged from the gas discharge portions 105a, 105b, and 105c.

The thicker connecting pipe of the pipes 104 is an exhaust pipe, and the recess 106 communicating with the exhaust pipe exhausts. Each of the gases released from the gas releasing portions 105a, 105b, and 105c has a concave portion 106 adjacent to the rear in the rotational direction when the inner surface of the flexible substrate 2 adsorbs one layer of a gas such as a precursor. Is exhausted.
Then, the inner surface of the flexible substrate 2 is sequentially treated with the first precursor, the purge gas, the second precursor, and the purge gas, and the unreacted gas is exhausted each time.

  When a gas such as a precursor is released from the gas discharge unit 105, the precursor hits the flexible substrate 2 and diffuses in all directions in a state where the rotary drum unit 101 is not rotated. In this state, the gas flows relatively backward as viewed from the rotating drum unit 101. When the rotating drum is rotated by the recess 106, it is possible to efficiently exhaust the surplus gas that flows backward.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the gas discharge part 105 and the recessed part 106 provided in the rotating drum part 101 are film forming sources.

  Since two sets of the gas discharge unit 105 are provided in the rotating drum unit 101, film forming processing for two cycles is performed every time the rotating drum unit 101 makes one rotation. Further, since the rotating drum unit 101 can freely rotate on the inner surface of the flexible substrate 2, for example, if the rotating drum unit 101 rotates N times while the flexible substrate 2 passes, a 2 × N layer structure is formed. Film treatment will be performed. For example, if the rotary drum unit 101 is rotated 100 times, a 200-layer film forming process is performed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, since the flexible substrate 2 is also conveyed while the rotating drum unit 101 rotates, the first precursor is exposed to that portion of the substrate at a portion where the flexible substrate 2 is separated from the rotating drum unit 101. Then, a phenomenon may occur in which the substrate is separated from the rotating drum portion 101 before the second precursor is exposed to the portion. In such a case, in the situation where no countermeasure is taken, the first precursor is assumed to be taken out from the chamber 8 without forming the assumed layer in the exposed portion of only the first precursor. Unexpected compounds may be formed by combining with other substances. This causes the film quality to deteriorate.

  In order to cope with this problem, the film forming apparatus 1 includes a plasma apparatus 7 that generates or irradiates plasma on the conveyance path of the flexible substrate 2, in addition to the rotating drum 102. By generating or irradiating plasma with the plasma device 7, the first precursor adsorbed on the flexible substrate 2 can be changed into a stable shape, and deterioration of the film quality can be prevented.

  Further, when the flexible substrate 2 before film formation is irradiated with plasma, adhesion of the film formation can be improved or cleaning can be performed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the plasma device 7 is disposed between the flexible substrate 2 unwound from the unwinding roll 3 and the flexible substrate 2 wound up by the winding roll 4, so that plasma is generated by the plasma device 7. Or by irradiating, the two effects mentioned above can be acquired simultaneously.

  As the plasma generated or irradiated by the plasma apparatus 7, oxygen plasma can be used when forming an oxide thin film, and nitrogen plasma can be used when forming a nitride thin film. Argon plasma or the like can also be applied for metal film formation.

  With the above-described configuration, the film forming source is disposed on the rotating drum unit 101, thereby realizing a reduction in the size of the entire apparatus. In addition, although the conventional film forming source is fixed, the film forming process of many cycles can be easily performed by rotating the film forming source. By downsizing the apparatus, the chamber 8 can also be reduced in size, and the effect is great particularly when the chamber 8 having a vacuum inside is used. In addition, ALD is a method of growing an atomic level thin film layer by layer in one cycle, and the film formation speed is slow. However, by rotating the film formation source, multi-layer formation is facilitated, and the drawbacks of ALD are also eliminated. can do.

  In the present embodiment, two film forming sources are disposed on the rotating drum unit 101. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and one film forming source may be disposed, or two or more film forming sources may be disposed. May be arranged. In addition, one cycle is formed by the four gas discharge portions 105. However, when three or more kinds of precursors are used, more openings may be provided and assigned. The same applies when two or more types of purge gas are used.

  Here, since the purge gas has one purpose of avoiding mixing and reacting of the respective precursors in the space, the gas discharge part 105c that supplies the purge gas is used as each gas that supplies the precursor. It is good to provide between discharge parts. That is, for example, the gas discharge part 105c that supplies the purge gas is disposed between the gas discharge part 105a that supplies the first precursor and the gas discharge part 105b that supplies the second precursor. A discharge part 105c for supplying a purge gas may be arranged between 105b and the discharge part for the third precursor. On the other hand, when the unadsorbed or unreacted precursor can be sufficiently removed only by exhaust, it is possible to introduce no purge gas.

  In the present embodiment, the flexible substrate is used as the film formation substrate, but another flexible film or sheet may be used. Moreover, even if it is a rigid body with no flexibility, such as glass and a wafer, this invention is applicable if it is a form which can be conveyed along a rotating drum. For example, this is the case when a small substrate is transported while being fixed to a transport sheet or belt sheet. It can be applied to film formation by the so-called web coating method. That is, these glass and wafers, small substrates, and film-formed objects in the web coating method are also included in the film-formed substrate.

  In the present embodiment, the flexible substrate 2 is driven and conveyed by the substrate guide unit 103, but is used as a so-called idler that rotates by the movement of the flexible substrate 2 without driving the substrate guide unit 103. The flexible substrate 2 may be conveyed by driving the unwinding roll 3 and the winding roll 4. Further, the substrate guide portion 103 may be fixed, and both edges of the flexible substrate 2 may be configured to slide on the disk-shaped side surface of the substrate guide portion 103 so that the flexible substrate 2 is held at a predetermined diameter.

  The precursor is not limited as long as it is in a gas phase at the time of use. The purge gas may be of any type as long as it does not become a component constituting a thin film obtained by film formation. When nitrogen gas is used, a high-quality film can be produced at a lower cost. When an inert gas is used as the purge gas, the range of types of precursors that can be used is widened, and an optimum precursor can be selected from a wide variety of precursors. Among them, argon can be introduced as an inert gas at a relatively low cost, and productivity can be improved.

  Further, the gas discharge part 105 has been described with the discharge holes arranged in the width direction on the rotary drum part 101, but the present invention is not limited to this and may be a slit-like shape formed in the width direction. The slit shape has the advantage that the pressure of the gas to be discharged is uniform.

  Further, although the magnetic fluid is used for the seal portion 109, an O-ring or the like may be used. When a magnetic fluid is used for the seal portion 109, dust generation and the like can be suppressed, and the maintenance interval can be extended. In addition, the resistance to rotation of the rotating drum unit 101 can be reduced.

  Further, the concave portion 106 of the rotating drum portion 101 is used for exhausting unreacted gas, and may have a groove shape. A plurality of recess openings 107 at the bottom of the recess 106 may be provided. Exhaust can be efficiently performed, precursors remaining in the space without being adsorbed on the substrate can be efficiently removed, and generation of particles during film formation can be suppressed, and a high-quality thin film can be manufactured.

  Further, it is preferable that the gap (clearance) between the rotating drum unit 101 and the flexible substrate 2 is as narrow as possible. Although the substrate guide portions 103 for holding the flexible substrate 2 at a predetermined diameter are provided at both edge portions of the flexible substrate 2, if the central portion in the width direction of the flexible substrate 2 is bent, it is also disposed at the center. May be.

  In this embodiment, the thicker connecting pipe of the pipes 104 is configured to be exhausted together. However, by increasing the number of exhaust pipes, etc. These gases may be exhausted separately. It becomes easy to collect and reuse the unreacted precursor.

  In the present embodiment, the chamber 8 is configured to store the entire apparatus, but may be configured to store only the processing drum 100 on which film formation is performed. In general, the chamber 8 is evacuated, but when the film is formed at atmospheric pressure, the chamber 8 can be adapted.

  Further, the rotary drum unit 101 may be provided with a heating mechanism. By heating the substrate on which the precursor is adsorbed, the reaction can be promoted and the growth of the thin film can be promoted. In addition, a precursor that needs to be heated for film formation can be used. When a flash lamp is used as a heat source, temperature control is relatively easy and radiant heat can be used, which is efficient. A water cooling mechanism may be provided for a portion where heat is not desired to be transmitted to control the temperature. The heating mechanism may be provided on the wall surface of the chamber or outside the rotating drum.

  Further, the rotating drum unit 101 may include a mechanism for generating or irradiating plasma. Plasma can promote the reaction of the precursor and promote the growth of the thin film. As a method for generating plasma, known techniques such as inductively coupled plasma generation (ICP) can be used in addition to radio frequency (RF) discharge and DC discharge.

  Moreover, the kind of precursor is not ask | required. It is appropriately selected depending on the film formation type and film formation temperature. Since the precursor only needs to be in a gas phase when the apparatus is used, the storage state of the precursor may be a liquid phase or a solid phase in addition to the gas phase. For example, when the precursor is in a liquid phase, it is introduced by a method such as heating or bubbling.

  The precursor may contain a carrier gas. The carrier gas is generally the same as the purge gas or one having similar properties, but is not limited thereto. When the aforementioned bubbling is used, the gas for bubbling often becomes a carrier gas.

  The purge gas does not become a component of the film, but is effective as a gas separating the first precursor release and the second precursor release. For this, in addition to a rare gas such as argon, any kind of gas can be used as long as it does not affect the film forming species.

Further, the rotation directions of the rotating drum unit 101 and the substrate guide unit 103 may be the same direction or relatively opposite directions.
Moreover, conveyance of the flexible substrate 2 may be continuous or intermittent, or may be performed in the rewind direction as necessary.
(Second Embodiment)
With reference to FIG. 7, a film forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, the same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, detailed description thereof is omitted, and different parts are mainly described.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of the film forming apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment. The film forming apparatus 1 includes two processing drums 100 and 200, and different films can be formed by using different gases for film forming. In the following description, the processing drum 100, the unwinding side guide roller 5 and the winding side guide roller 6 of the first embodiment will be referred to with “first” attached to their heads.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the flexible substrate 2 is unwound from the unwinding roll 3, and is guided by the first unwinding-side guide roller 5 and is wound around the outer periphery of the upper half of the first processing drum 100 by a half-round. Then, it is pulled out by the second unwinding side guide roller 9 and is guided by the third unwinding side guide roller 11 so as to wind around the outer periphery of the second processing drum 200 by a predetermined angle. Next, the flexible substrate 2 is pulled out by the third winding-side guide roller 12 and is guided by the second winding-side guide roller 10 so that the outer periphery of the lower half of the first processing drum 100 is wound around the half circumference. Then, it is pulled out by the first winding side guide roller 6 and wound by the winding roll 4.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when the flexible substrate 2 is conveyed along the upper half of the first processing drum 100, the first film is formed on the inner surface of the flexible substrate 2 by the processing drum 100. Next, when the flexible substrate 2 is transported along the processing drum 200 for almost one turn, after the second film formation is performed, when the flexible substrate 2 is transported along the lower half of the first processing drum 100 A third film formation is performed. In this case, a thin film having the same film quality is formed in the first film formation and the third film formation.

  The number and arrangement of the plurality of rotating drums are not limited to this, and can be variously configured as necessary. For example, three film forming apparatuses are arranged like a clover mark of a playing card, and an unwinding roll 3 and a winding roll 4 are arranged at the leg part of the clover mark so that the flexible substrate 2 has an outline of the clover mark. If transported along, it is possible to form three separate films.

In the case of the above configuration as well, the film forming source can be arranged in the rotating drum unit 101 to achieve downsizing of the entire apparatus. In addition, although the conventional film formation source is fixed, it is possible to cope with a multilayer film formation process by disposing it on the rotating drum 101.
Further, by providing a plurality of processing drums 100 and 200, it is possible to stack different types of thin films by supplying different material gases.

  In addition, the film-forming apparatus of this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A various deformation | transformation is possible. As an example, in the above-described embodiment, the film formation apparatus using the atomic layer deposition method has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a film formation source using a CVD method, a sputtering method, or another method is provided on the rotating drum. In the film apparatus, the same effect can be obtained by disposing the film forming source on the rotating drum.

  According to the present invention, in the process of forming a thin film on a substrate while transporting the substrate, film formation can be performed without increasing the scale of the equipment, which contributes to a reduction in production cost.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Film-forming apparatus 2 Flexible substrate 3 Unwinding roll 4 Unwinding roll 5 (1st) Unwinding side guide roller 6 (1st) Winding side guide roller 7 Plasma apparatus 8 Chamber 9 2nd unwinding side guide Roller 10 Second winding-side guide roller 11 Third winding-side guide roller 12 Third winding-side guide roller 100 (First) processing drum 101 Rotating drum section 102 Rotating shaft section 103 Substrate guide section 104 Piping 105 Gas discharge part 106 Concave part 107 Concave opening part 108 Groove part 109 Seal part 200 Second processing drum

Claims (10)

A film forming source is used to form a film on the surface of the film forming substrate while the film forming substrate is continuously or intermittently transferred by the substrate transfer unit while the film forming substrate is wound around the processing drum by a predetermined angle. In the film forming apparatus,
The processing drum includes a rotating drum provided with at least one film forming source and driven to rotate by a rotation driving unit,
While the rotary drum is rotated by the rotation driving unit at a speed different from the conveyance speed of the deposition target substrate by the substrate conveyance unit, the deposition source is applied to the surface on the processing drum side of the deposition target substrate. A film forming apparatus for forming a film. The film formation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the film formation source is a film formation source by an atomic layer deposition method, and film formation is performed by ALD. The film formation processing drum in the film formation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the film formation source includes a plurality of gas discharge units and a gas exhaust unit. The film forming source includes at least three gas discharge portions,
4. The film forming process drum in the film forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the first precursor, the second precursor, and the purge gas are discharged from the three gas discharge portions, respectively. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the deposition target substrate is a flexible substrate. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a moving speed of an outer peripheral portion of the rotary drum is relatively high with respect to a transport speed of the deposition target substrate. 3. The film forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a mechanism for generating or irradiating plasma on a substrate transfer path. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a mechanism for unwinding and / or winding the deposition target substrate. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the rotating drums are provided. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate covers the outer periphery of the rotating drum over a range of 90% or more of 360 ° in the circumferential direction.

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