JP2014065944A - Glass article carrying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a glass article carrying device in which, upon forming a transparent conductive film on the glass article by performing a thermal CVD method against the glass article under a heating condition, failure of raw material gas spraying is avoided by suppressing position deviation of the glass article due to raw material gas spraying, and a transparent conductive film of uniform thickness on the surface of the glass article is formed.SOLUTION: In a glass article carrying device 100, a glass article 1 on a loading section 10 is carried while Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) is performed by spraying a raw material gas to the glass article 1 under a heating condition. The loading section 10 is finished to have a surface roughness rougher than that of the glass article 1.

Description

  The present invention relates to a glass article conveying apparatus that conveys a glass article while performing chemical vapor deposition (CVD) by spraying a raw material gas on a glass article placed on a placing section under heating conditions.

  Glass articles used for solar cell panels and heat ray reflective glass have a transparent conductive film (such as a tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) film or a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) film) formed on the surface. Formation (film formation) of the transparent conductive film on the glass article is performed by, for example, a thermal CVD method using a CVD apparatus.

  In the thermal CVD method, a glass article to be deposited is placed on a placement portion called a setter, and this is conveyed to a reaction furnace of a CVD apparatus. The inside of the reaction furnace is heated to a temperature at which the transparent conductive film can be crystallized, and a crystal of the transparent conductive film is formed on the surface of the glass article by blowing a raw material gas onto the glass article under this heating condition.

  In forming a film on a glass article by a thermal CVD method, it is required to make the film thickness of the formed transparent conductive film as uniform as possible. In particular, in recent years, the level of film thickness unevenness allowed in a transparent conductive film has become very severe with the improvement in performance of optical components and the like. Here, when the glass article placed on the placement part is heated, if a temperature difference occurs between the upper surface and the lower surface of the glass article, the glass article is warped, and the surface of the glass article has a uniform thickness. There was a problem that it was difficult to form a transparent conductive film.

  In the film forming apparatus of Patent Document 1, the film forming furnace has a bottom wall surface that supports a part of the belt of the belt conveyor, and the outer wall surface including the bottom wall surface is heated. Furthermore, since the belt is knitted in a mesh shape with a metal wire formed in a flat shape with a substantially elliptical cross section, the belt comes into surface contact with the bottom wall surface of the film forming furnace, so that the belt can be efficiently transferred from the bottom wall surface. Heat is transferred to it. As a result, the occurrence of a temperature difference between the upper surface and the lower surface of the glass article is suppressed, and the warpage of the glass article is prevented.

JP 2001-7031 A

  However, the belt of the belt conveyor used in the film forming apparatus of Patent Document 1 has a structure in which the raw material gas of the transparent conductive film sprayed on the glass article is a mesh-shaped belt of the bottom wall of the film forming furnace and the metal wire. There is a possibility that the glass article is displaced due to the pressure of the raw material gas that has entered and sprayed. When the position shift occurs in the glass article, the raw material gas cannot be sprayed uniformly on the surface of the glass article, and as a result, there is a possibility that the film thickness unevenness occurs in the transparent conductive film formed on the glass article.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is transparent on a glass article by performing a thermal CVD method (hereinafter referred to as “CVD process”) on the glass article under heating conditions. When depositing a conductive film, it is possible to prevent misalignment of the raw material gas by spraying the raw material gas and prevent a defective spray of the raw material gas, and to form a transparent conductive film with a uniform thickness on the surface of the glass article An object of the present invention is to provide a glass article conveying apparatus.

The characteristic configuration of the glass article conveying apparatus according to the present invention for solving the above problems is as follows:
A glass article conveying device that conveys while performing chemical vapor deposition (CVD) by spraying a raw material gas on a glass article placed on a placing section under heating conditions,
The said mounting part exists in finishing the surface roughness rougher than the said glass article.

  In the glass article conveying apparatus of this configuration, since the mounting portion is finished to have a rougher surface roughness than the glass article, a certain level of frictional force acts between the glass article and the mounting portion, and the glass article It is easy to stay at the place where it was first placed on the placement part. As a result, even if the source gas is sprayed onto the glass article, the glass article is less likely to be displaced. Therefore, in the glass article conveying apparatus of this configuration, the failure to blow the raw material gas is prevented, and a film having a uniform thickness can be formed on the surface of the glass article.

In the glass article conveying apparatus according to the present invention,
It is preferable that the mounting portion and the glass article are made of the same material.

  When the glass article and the placement part on which the glass article is placed are made of different materials, when the raw material gas is sprayed onto the glass article and CVD processing is performed, fine particles derived from the placement part are mixed into the raw material gas. However, there is a risk of contamination occurring in the formed film or glass article. Contamination reduces the performance and quality of the film and glass article. On the other hand, in the glass article conveying apparatus of this configuration, since the placement unit and the glass article are made of the same material, fine particles (glass powder) are hardly generated in the first place. Even if fine particles (glass powder) are generated from the mounting portion and mixed into the raw material gas, the glass is thermally and chemically stable, so the influence on the performance and quality of the film is small. Moreover, even if fine particles (glass powder) made of the same material adhere to the glass article, the performance and quality of the glass article are hardly affected.

In the glass article conveying apparatus according to the present invention,
It is preferable that the mounting portion is composed of a plate-like body having a thickness of 1 mm to 10 mm.

  In the glass article conveying apparatus of this configuration, the placing portion is a plate-like body and has a sufficient thickness of 1 mm to 10 mm, so that the placing portion does not warp during transportation. In addition, after forming the film on the glass article after preheating, even if low temperature source gas is sprayed on the glass article, the placement part has a large retained heat derived from a sufficient thickness. The temperature of the part can be maintained evenly. Therefore, since heat is uniformly transmitted from the placing portion to the glass article, the temperature of the glass article can be kept constant. Thereby, the curvature of a glass article can be prevented and the film | membrane of uniform thickness can be formed on the surface of a glass article.

In the glass article conveying apparatus according to the present invention,
The surface roughness of the mounting portion is preferably 0.1 μm to 1.0 μm in terms of Ra value.

  In the glass article conveying apparatus of the present configuration, since the surface roughness of the placing portion is 0.1 μm to 1.0 μm in terms of Ra value, a sufficient frictional force acts between the glass article and the placing portion, The positional deviation of the glass article due to the blowing of the raw material gas can be reliably suppressed. Therefore, in the glass article conveying apparatus of this configuration, the failure to blow the raw material gas is prevented, and a film having a uniform thickness can be formed on the surface of the glass article.

In the glass article conveying apparatus according to the present invention,
It is preferable that the mounting portion is configured to be reusable or replaceable.

  The glass article transport apparatus having this configuration is economical because the placement unit is configured to be reusable or replaceable, so that the placement unit can be used repeatedly. Moreover, even if the placement unit is damaged due to long-term use, the CVD treatment of the glass article can be easily resumed by simply replacing the placement unit.

In the glass article conveying apparatus according to the present invention,
It is preferable that the above-mentioned mounting part is composed of a crystallized glass plate having an average linear thermal expansion coefficient of −10 to 10 × 10 ⁻⁷ / ° C. at 30 to 750 ° C.

Since the glass article conveying apparatus of the present configuration is composed of a crystallized glass plate having an average linear thermal expansion coefficient of −10 to 10 × 10 ⁻⁷ / ° C. at 30 to 750 ° C., Warpage does not occur in the mounting part not only at room temperature but also during heating. For this reason, a glass article contacts so that it may always adhere to a mounting part, and heat can be uniformly transmitted with respect to a glass article. Accordingly, the glass article is not warped, and the raw material gas is prevented from being poorly blown, so that a film having a uniform thickness can be formed on the surface of the glass article.

In the glass article conveying apparatus according to the present invention,
The crystallized glass plate preferably contains β-quartz solid solution or β-spodumene solid solution as a main crystal structure.

  The glass article conveying apparatus of this configuration is excellent in heat resistance and durability because the crystallized glass plate of the mounting portion contains β-quartz solid solution or β-spodumene solid solution as the main crystal structure, and under heating conditions And can be suitably used as a placement portion for a glass article to be subjected to CVD treatment.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a glass article conveying apparatus. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a main part of the glass article conveying apparatus. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing the movement of the glass article in the film forming unit of the glass article conveying apparatus. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of the placing portion of the glass article transporting apparatus.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment relating to a glass article conveying device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. However, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the configurations described in the embodiments and drawings described below.

<Overall configuration of glass article conveying apparatus>
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the glass article conveying apparatus 100. The glass article conveying apparatus 100 is used to form a film on the surface of the glass article 1 by performing a CVD process on the glass article 1. Examples of the glass article 1 include a glass substrate for a solar battery panel and a glass plate for heat ray reflective glass. Examples of the film include a transparent conductive film such as a tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) film and a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) film, a heat ray reflective film, and the like. The glass article conveying apparatus 100 of the present invention forms a transparent conductive film on the surface of the glass article 1, but can be applied to the formation of other types of films as long as it can be formed by a CVD process. Is possible. FIG. 2 is a main part configuration diagram of the glass article transport apparatus 100 and shows a film forming unit 7 of the glass article transport apparatus 100 described later. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion surrounded by a dotted line in FIG.

  The glass article conveying apparatus 100 includes a film forming chamber 2 that forms a transparent conductive film on the surface of the glass article 1 and a conveying means 3 that conveys the glass article 1 so as to pass through the inside of the film forming chamber 2. . The conveyance direction of the glass article 1 is the direction of the arrow D in FIG. In actual operation, the glass article 1 may be moved back and forth somewhat in the transport direction D. Therefore, the conveyance direction D is a direction in which the glass article 1 moves as a whole. The film forming chamber 2 is provided with a loading portion 4 for loading the glass article 1 at the upstream end of the conveying means 3 when viewed from the conveying direction D, and the glass article having undergone the CVD process at the downstream end. An unloading unit 5 for unloading 1 is provided. Further, in the film forming chamber 2, the preheating unit 6 that heats the glass article 1 to a predetermined temperature from the carry-in part 4 toward the carry-out part 5, and a CVD process are performed on the surface of the glass article 1 heated to the predetermined temperature. A film forming unit 7 for forming a transparent conductive film and a cooling unit 8 for cooling the formed glass article 1 to a predetermined temperature are sequentially arranged.

  The transport unit 3 includes a plurality of rollers 9 and transports the glass article 1 placed on the placement unit 10 from the carry-in unit 4 toward the carry-out unit 5. The conveyance speed of the conveyance means 3 can be adjusted in the range of 50 mm / min to 10000 mm / min. The plurality of rollers 9 are horizontally disposed in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction D of the glass article 1 from the preheating unit 6 to the cooling unit 8 in the film forming chamber 2. The adjacent rollers 9 are spaced apart at the same interval with a separation distance sufficiently shorter than the entire length of the placement unit 10, and the placement unit 10 moves horizontally in a stable state from the carry-in unit 4 to the carry-out unit 5. Can be made. The roller 9 has a rod shape or a cylindrical shape, and is configured to be rotationally driven in the same direction at the same speed by a motor (not shown) from the outside of the film forming chamber 2. As the roller 9, a silica roller can be preferably used. Since the silica roller has heat resistance, its constituent components are glassy, and it is chemically stable, there is little influence of contamination on the transparent conductive film during the CVD process.

  The glass article conveying apparatus 100 is provided with a placing section 10 for placing the glass article 1 and moving the film forming chamber 2. The placement unit 10 is formed in a rectangular plate shape in plan view, and is disposed in the carry-in unit 4 of the film formation chamber 2 with its lower surface supported by a plurality of rollers 9, and the roller 9 rotates. The film is transferred from the carry-in section 4 of the film forming chamber 2 toward the carry-out section 5. The size of the placement unit 10 is formed such that, when viewed from the conveyance direction D, the width (direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction D) is 850 to 1500 mm, and the length (direction parallel to the conveyance direction D) is 1300 to 2500 mm. The size of the placement unit 10 is selected to be larger than the size of the glass article 1 to be placed. Details of the placement unit 10 will be described later.

  The preheating unit 6 includes an electric heater 11a (11) as a heating means. Since the electric heater 11a does not use combustion gas or the like as a heat source, contamination of the glass article 1 can be suppressed. The internal temperature of the preheating unit 6 is maintained at a predetermined temperature (for example, 300 to 500 ° C.) by controlling the output of the electric heater 11a. The electric heater 11a is provided above and below the conveying means 3 inside the preheating unit 6, and can be uniformly heated from above and below the glass article 1 on the loading unit 10 to be conveyed. it can. The glass article 1 is heated to the vicinity of the predetermined temperature while passing through the preheating unit 6 and conveyed to the film forming unit 7 at the subsequent stage.

  The film forming unit 7 includes a gas injection unit 12 (first gas injection unit 12a and second gas injection unit 12b) that sprays a raw material gas for forming a transparent conductive film on the surface of the glass article 1, and a film formation unit 7 And an electric heater 11b (11) for maintaining the internal temperature at a predetermined temperature (for example, 450 to 630 ° C.). The 1st gas injection part 12a and the 2nd gas injection part 12b spray the raw material gas on the surface of the glass article 1 which passes under each, and perform the CVD process which makes the raw material gas react, and thereby on the surface of the glass article 1 A transparent conductive film having a thickness of 200 to 1000 nm is formed. Each of the gas injection units 12 is provided with an injection port 13 for blowing the supplied source gas downward, and sucks the remaining source gas on the upstream side and the downstream side in the transport direction D of the injection port 13. A pair of exhaust ports 14 for discharging from the film forming chamber 2 are provided. The injection port 13 and the exhaust port 14 are provided so as to extend in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction D of the glass article 1. As shown by the arrows in FIG. 2, the raw material gas injected from the injection port 13 reaches the surface of the glass article 1 and then splits into both sides to form a laminar flow substantially parallel to the surface of the glass article 1. It reacts to form a transparent conductive film on the surface of the glass article 1. Unreacted raw material gas and by-product gas are sucked into the exhaust port 14 and discharged to the outside of the glass article conveying apparatus 100. Thereby, in the width direction (direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction D) of the glass article 1, a transparent conductive film having a uniform thickness can be formed. The injection amount of the raw material gas from the respective injection ports 13 of the first gas injection unit 12a and the second gas injection unit 12b can be adjusted to 55 L / min to 550 L / min. Inside the film forming unit 7, the electric heater 11 b is disposed below the conveying unit 3, and the glass article 1 on the mounting unit 10 is heated from below and maintained at the predetermined temperature. In the present embodiment, as the gas injection unit 12, the first gas injection unit 12a and the second gas injection unit 12b perform the CVD process in two stages. However, the single gas injection unit 12 is provided for one stage. Alternatively, the CVD process may be performed, or three or more gas injection units 12 may be provided to perform the CVD process in three or more stages. When providing the gas injection part 12 in multiple places, it becomes possible to form a multilayer thin film on the glass article 1 by making the kind of the raw material gas injected from each gas injection part 12 different.

As the raw material gas for performing the CVD treatment on the glass article 1, a gas obtained by adding water, ethanol or the like as an oxidizing agent to the tin raw material and the fluorine raw material and heating and vaporizing them at about 150 to 200 ° C. is used. . Examples of the tin raw material include dimethyldichlorotin (DMTC), monobutyltrichlorotin (MBTC), and tin tetrachloride (SnCl ₄ ). Examples of the fluorine raw material include trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), hydrogen fluoride (HF), and ammonium fluoride (NH ₄ F).

  The cooling unit 8 includes a cooling unit 15. The glass article 1 having a transparent conductive film formed on the surface thereof in the film forming unit 7 is cooled to a predetermined temperature (for example, room temperature to 50 ° C.) by receiving cold air (cold air) from the cooling means 15. As the cooling means 15, a cooling pipe through which a refrigerant passes is used, but an air cooling fan can also be used. In addition, when the full length (namely, cooling time) of the cooling part 8 can fully be ensured, it is also possible to cool the glass article 1 by natural cooling without providing the cooling means 15.

<Structure of mounting part>
The mounting part 10 used for the glass article conveying apparatus 100 of this invention is comprised so that it may be suitable for the CVD process performed on heating conditions. First, the relationship between the placement unit 10 and the glass article 1 when the glass article 1 is formed will be described. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing the movement of the glass article 1 in the film forming unit 7 of the glass article conveying apparatus 100. FIG. 3A shows a state when the raw material gas is sprayed on the end portion 1a of the glass article 1 when the conveying means 3 is in a stopped state. FIG. 3B shows a state where the glass article 1 moves back and forth with respect to the transport direction D when the transport means 3 is operated back and forth. In the drawing, a dotted arrow d indicates the moving direction of the glass article 1, and the glass article 1 indicated by a dotted line indicates the position of the glass article 1 after the movement.

  The placement unit 10 is formed in a rectangular plate-like body in plan view, the glass article 1 is placed on the surface (upper surface) thereof, and is carried out from the carry-in unit 4 of the film forming chamber 2 by the rollers 9 of the conveyance unit 3. It is conveyed to part 5. In the glass article 1, a transparent conductive film is formed in the film forming unit 7. Depending on the film formation state of the glass article 1, the glass article 1 is slowed in the conveyance speed and sprayed with raw material gas, or in the conveyance direction D. The conveying means 3 is formed so that a transparent conductive film having a uniform thickness is formed on the surface of the glass article 1 by moving in the reverse direction and spraying the source gas, or by temporarily stopping the conveyance and spraying the source gas. Is controlled.

  When the transparent conductive film is formed on the glass article 1, for example, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the film is formed on the surface of the glass article 1 by stopping the conveyance of the conveyance means 3, the gas injection unit 12. May be sprayed onto the end portion 1a in the conveyance direction D of the glass article 1, and the pressure may cause the glass article 1 to move in the horizontal direction on the placement unit 10 to cause positional displacement. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the transport unit 3 is operated in the front-rear direction of the transport direction D in order to form a film with a uniform thickness, inertial force is applied to the glass article 1 on the placement unit 10. In some cases, the glass article 1 slides up on the placement unit 10 to cause displacement. As described above, when the glass article 1 moves unintentionally on the placement unit 10, the raw material gas is not sprayed well on the glass article 1 (that is, a spraying failure occurs), and the transparent conductive film Unevenness may occur in the film thickness.

  Therefore, in the present invention, the surface of the mounting portion 10 is finished to have a rougher surface roughness than the glass article 1. Thereby, even if the mounting part 10 is a case where source gas is sprayed on the edge part 1a of the glass article 1, or the mounting part 10 is moved to the front-back direction of the conveyance direction D, the glass article 1 and Since a certain or more frictional force acts between the mounting part 10, the glass article 1 tends to stay at the place where the glass article 1 is first mounted on the mounting part 10. Thus, if the mounting part 10 is finished to have a rougher surface roughness than the glass article 1, the glass article 1 is less likely to be misaligned, a raw material gas spray failure is prevented, and the surface of the glass article 1 is uniform. A transparent conductive film having a thickness can be formed.

  As for the surface roughness of the mounting part 10, it is preferable that Ra value is the range of 0.1 micrometer-1.0 micrometer. Here, the surface roughness Ra of the glass article 1 is an arithmetic average roughness defined in JIS B 0601, and is a value when measured under the conditions of a measurement cutoff value of 0.8 mm and a measurement length of 4 mm. It is shown. Since the glass article 1 to be subjected to the CVD process usually has a surface roughness Ra value in the range of 0.1 nm to 0.3 μm, the surface roughness of the mounting portion 10 is finished to be rougher than the surface roughness of the glass article 1. However, when the Ra value is in the range of 0.1 μm to 1.0 μm, a sufficient frictional force acts between the glass article 1 and the mounting portion 10, and the glass is formed by spraying the raw material gas. The positional deviation of the article 1 can be reliably suppressed. A preferable surface roughness Ra value of the mounting portion 10 is 0.4 μm to 1.0 μm, and a more preferable surface roughness Ra value is 0.5 to 1.0 μm. When the surface roughness Ra value is lower than 0.1 μm, a sufficient frictional force does not act between the glass article 1 and the placement portion 10, so that the displacement of the glass article 1 cannot be effectively suppressed. In addition, there is a possibility that the glass article 1 carried out from the glass article conveying apparatus 100 and the placement unit 10 are in close contact and cannot be separated. If the surface roughness Ra value exceeds 1.0 μm, a fine gap is generated between the glass article 1 and the mounting portion 10, and thus the source gas may wrap around the back side of the glass article 1. . Further, when the glass article 1 is placed on the placement unit 10, the glass article 1 may slide with respect to the placement unit 10 due to the positioning of the glass article 1, and in this case, the placement unit 10. If the surface roughness Ra value exceeds 1.0 μm, the glass article 1 may be scratched.

  The placement unit 10 is preferably made of the same material as the glass article 1 that performs the CVD process. When the material of the mounting part 10 and the material of the glass article 1 are different, for example, when the mounting part 10 is made of a metal material and the glass article 1 is a crystallized glass substrate, the source gas is supplied to the crystallized glass substrate. When the CVD process is performed by spraying, metal fine particles derived from the metal material of the mounting portion 10 are mixed with the raw material gas, and contamination occurs in the transparent conductive film and the glass article 1 formed on the crystallized glass substrate. There is a fear. Contamination deteriorates the performance and quality of the transparent conductive film and the glass article 1. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the same material as that of the glass article 1 is used as the material of the placement unit 10. That is, the mounting part 10 is formed of a crystallized glass plate. Since crystallized glass is thermally and chemically stable, it is difficult for fine particles to scatter. Temporarily, fine particles of crystallized glass are generated from the mounting portion 10 when the raw material gas is sprayed, and even if this is mixed with the raw material gas, the fine particles are the same material as the glass article 1 (crystallized glass substrate). The influence on the performance and quality of the transparent conductive film is small. Further, even if fine particles (glass powder) made of the same material adhere to the glass article 1, the performance and quality of the glass article 1 are hardly affected.

  It is preferable that the thickness of the crystallized glass plate constituting the mounting portion 10 is 1 mm to 10 mm. When the thickness of the mounting part 10 is smaller than 1 mm, the mounting part 10 is likely to warp due to the weight and heating of the glass article 1 to be mounted. If the thickness of the mounting part 10 is larger than 10 mm, it takes time to raise the temperature of the mounting part 10 to a predetermined temperature. By setting the mounting portion 10 in the above thickness range, the mounting portion 10 is not warped during conveyance. In addition, when the transparent conductive film is formed on the glass article 1 after the preheating, the raw material gas at a low temperature (200 to 300 ° C.) is supplied from the gas injection unit 12 to the glass article 1 in a high temperature state (500 to 600 ° C.). Even if sprayed, since the mounting part has a large retained heat derived from a sufficient thickness, the temperature of the mounting part 10 can be maintained evenly. Therefore, since heat is uniformly transmitted from the mounting portion 10 to the glass article 1, the temperature of the glass article 1 can be kept constant. Thereby, the curvature of the glass article 1 can be prevented and the transparent conductive film of uniform thickness can be formed on the surface of the glass article 1.

  The crystallized glass plate that constitutes the placement unit 10 may have its surface deteriorated or the source gas component may adhere due to repeated CVD treatment, but the placement unit 10 is constituted by a crystallized glass plate. Playback becomes easy. The regeneration of the crystallized glass plate is performed by polishing the surface of the crystallized glass plate. When the surface of the deteriorated crystallized glass plate is polished, the surface of the fresh crystallized glass plate is exposed and can be reused as the mounting portion 10. In addition, about the crystallized glass plate which deterioration progressed, it is possible to replace | exchange for an unused crystallized glass plate. Since the mounting unit 10 is configured to be reusable or replaceable, the mounting unit 10 can be used repeatedly, which is economical. Moreover, even if the mounting part 10 is damaged due to long-term use, the CVD treatment of the glass article 1 can be easily restarted only by replacing the mounting part 10.

It is preferable that the crystallized glass plate which comprises the mounting part 10 has an average linear thermal expansion coefficient of -10-10x10 < ^-7 > / degreeC in 30-750 degreeC. The inside of the film forming chamber 2 of the glass article conveying apparatus 100 is at a high temperature of 500 to 600 ° C. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a heat-resistant crystallized glass plate having the above-described average linear thermal expansion coefficient is used for the mounting portion 10. If the heat-resistant crystallized glass plate is used, the mounting portion 10 is not warped not only at room temperature but also during heating. For this reason, the glass article 1 is in contact with the placement unit 10 so as to be always in close contact, and heat can be uniformly transmitted to the glass article 1. Accordingly, the glass article 1 is not warped, and the raw material gas is prevented from being poorly blown, so that a transparent conductive film having a uniform thickness can be formed on the surface of the glass article 1.

  The crystallized glass plate constituting the mounting part 10 is preferably a plate-like body made of crystallized glass in which a β-quartz solid solution or a β-spodumene solid solution is precipitated as a main crystal. This crystallized glass plate is excellent in heat resistance and durability, and can be suitably used as a placement portion 10 on which a glass article 1 that performs CVD treatment under heating conditions is placed. In addition, the crystallized glass plate which uses a β-quartz solid solution or a β-spodumene solid solution as a main crystal is manufactured by a roll-out method, and is usually molded to a thickness of 10 mm or less. In addition, a crystallized glass plate having a β-quartz solid solution or a β-spodumene solid solution as a main crystal is easily processed such as grinding and polishing, and thus the above-described regeneration treatment can be easily performed.

  Next, as an example, a production test example of a glass substrate having a transparent conductive film carried out by using the glass article conveying apparatus of the present invention will be described below. In the production test, the same glass substrate is subjected to CVD using different placement parts (Examples and Comparative Examples), the presence or absence of scratches on the glass substrate, the uniformity of the film thickness of the transparent conductive film, and contamination. The occurrence of nations was evaluated.

<Example>
A crystallized glass plate having a thickness of 5 mm made of crystallized glass (heat-resistant crystallized glass manufactured by Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd .: trade name “Neoceram (registered trademark) N-0”) is used as a mounting part for mounting the glass substrate. used. The upper surface of the crystallized glass plate was lapped with a polishing machine, and the surface roughness of the crystallized glass plate was finished to Ra value of 0.5 μm to 0.6 μm.
<Comparative example>
A stainless steel metal plate was used as a placement portion for placing the glass substrate. The surface roughness of this metal plate was 0.1 μm to 0.3 μm in terms of Ra value.
<Test method>
A glass substrate made of a crystallized glass plate having a thickness of 4.0 mm was placed on each placement portion, and a CVD process was performed at a reaction temperature of 600 ° C. to form a transparent conductive film on the surface of the glass substrate. About each glass substrate in which the transparent conductive film was formed, the presence or absence of the damage | wound of a back surface, the uniformity of the film thickness of a transparent conductive film, and the presence or absence of contamination were evaluated. The presence or absence of scratches on the back surface of the glass substrate was visually confirmed under the brightness of a fluorescent lamp. The film thickness of the transparent conductive film was measured by cross-sectional observation with an electron microscope (SEM). The presence or absence of contamination was confirmed by performing composition analysis with an energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (EDX).
<Test results>
In the mounting part using the crystallized glass plate of Example 1, scratches are not recognized on the back surface of the mounted glass substrate, and a transparent conductive film having a substantially uniform film thickness can be formed. There was no occurrence. On the other hand, in the mounting part using the stainless steel metal plate of Comparative Example 1, scratches occurred on the back surface of the glass substrate, and the uniformity of the film thickness of the transparent conductive film was inferior to that of Example 1. It was. Moreover, the contamination of the iron component considered to originate in stainless steel was recognized.

[Another embodiment]
The mounting unit 10 used in the glass article manufacturing apparatus 100 of the present invention can adopt various forms other than the configuration described in the above embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of the placement unit 10 of the glass article transport apparatus 100. The following [1]-[4] are illustrated about the mounting part 10 of another embodiment.

[1] FIG. 4 (a) shows the placement unit 10 in which the surface roughness is finished rougher than that of the glass article 1 only in the region where the glass article 1 is substantially placed. In the same figure, the area | region which roughened surface roughness is shown with the oblique line, and the glass article 1 is shown with the dotted line. Since the reflectance of light is different between a region with a rough surface and a region other than that, it can be easily distinguished with the naked eye. Therefore, the operator can accurately and easily position the glass article 1 by visually recognizing the place where the glass article 1 is placed. Moreover, since the area | region which roughened surface roughness exists under the glass article 1, the position shift of the glass article 1 is also suppressed.

[2] FIG. 4 (b) shows the mounting unit 10 whose surface roughness is finished to be rougher than that of the glass article 1 in the entire region corresponding to the width of the glass article 1 in the transport direction D. In the same figure, the area | region which roughened surface roughness is shown with the oblique line, and the glass article 1 is shown with the dotted line. In this case, even if the pressure of the raw material gas and the inertial force act greatly in the transport direction D, the positional deviation of the glass article 1 can be reliably suppressed. In addition, the operator can accurately and easily position the glass article 1 by placing the glass article 1 between the areas whose surface roughness is increased by visual observation.

[3] FIG. 4 (c) shows the placement unit 10 in which the surface roughness of the region corresponding to both ends of the glass article 1 in the transport direction D is finished to be rougher than that of the glass article 1. In the same figure, the area | region which roughened surface roughness is shown with the oblique line, and the glass article 1 is shown with the dotted line. In this case, even if the pressure of the raw material gas or the inertial force acts in the transport direction D, the position shift of the glass article 1 can be suppressed. Further, the operator can accurately and easily position the glass article 1 by placing the glass article 1 in accordance with the two areas whose surface roughness is increased by visual observation.

[4] FIG. 4D shows the surface roughness of the entire region corresponding to the width of the glass article 1 in the transport direction D and the entire region corresponding to the length of the glass article 1 in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction D. The mounting part 10 which finished more roughly than the glass article 1 is shown. In the same figure, the area | region which roughened surface roughness is shown with the oblique line, and the glass article 1 is shown with the dotted line. In this case, even if the pressure or inertial force of the raw material gas acts greatly in the transport direction D, the positional deviation of the glass article 1 can be reliably suppressed, and an unexpected positional deviation can be caused in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction D. It can be surely suppressed. In addition, the operator can accurately and easily position the glass article 1 by placing the glass article 1 between the areas whose surface roughness is increased by visual observation.

  The glass article conveying apparatus of the present invention can be used in a CVD process for glass articles used for solar cell panels and heat ray reflective glass.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Glass article 10 Mounting part 100 Glass article conveyance apparatus

Claims (7)

A glass article conveying device that conveys while performing chemical vapor deposition (CVD) by spraying a raw material gas on a glass article placed on a placing section under heating conditions,
The glass article conveying apparatus in which the placement section is finished to have a rougher surface roughness than the glass article.   The glass article conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the placement unit and the glass article are made of the same material.   The glass article conveying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the placement section is configured by a plate-like body having a thickness of 1 mm to 10 mm.   The glass article conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the surface roughness of the mounting portion is 0.1 µm to 1.0 µm in terms of Ra value.   The glass article conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the placing section is configured to be reusable or replaceable. The said mounting part is comprised in the crystallized glass plate which has an average linear thermal expansion coefficient of -10-10x10 < ^-7 > / degreeC in 30-750 degreeC. The glass article conveying apparatus as described.   The said crystallized glass board is a glass article conveyance apparatus of Claim 6 containing (beta) -quartz solid solution or (beta) -spodumene solid solution as a main crystal structure.

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