JP2016141856A - Film deposition apparatus and film deposition method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a film deposition apparatus and a film deposition method which can properly adjust the mobility of a film to be formed.SOLUTION: A film deposition apparatus 1 using the RPD method comprises: a chamber 10 that accommodates an object to be deposited; a plasma gun 7 that emits a plasma beam P into the chamber 10; a main hearth 17 that is installed in the chamber 10, holds a film deposition material Ma generating film deposition material particles Mb by irradiation of the plasma beam P, and induces the plasma beam P to the film deposition material Ma; a reactive gas supply part 18 that supplies a reactive gas into the chamber 10; an inert gas supply part 19 that supplies an inert gas into the chamber 10; an electric potential difference measuring part 41 that measures an electric potential difference between the plasma gun 7 and the main hearth 17; and a flow rate control part 42 that controls the flow rate of the inert gas supplied from the inert gas supply part 19 so that the electric potential difference measured by the electric potential difference measuring part 41 is within a predetermined target range.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus and a film forming method.

  Conventionally, as a technique in such a field, a film forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1 below is known. This film forming apparatus is a film forming apparatus that performs a film forming process for attaching film forming material particles to an object to be formed by an RPD (Reactive Plasma Deposition) method. Using this apparatus, for example, a transparent electrode film made of ITO can be formed on a glass substrate.

JP 2013-170276 A

  In this type of film forming process, it is necessary to control the resistance of the formed film. The resistance of the film is determined by its carrier density and mobility, and it is particularly desirable to control the mobility of the film. If the oxygen in the chamber of the film formation apparatus is increased, the mobility increases, but the amount of increase decreases to some extent. The mobility adjustment is limited only by controlling the amount of oxygen supplied into the chamber.

  An object of this invention is to provide the film-forming apparatus and film-forming method which can adjust appropriately the mobility of the film | membrane formed.

  A film forming apparatus of the present invention is a film forming apparatus that performs a film forming process for attaching film forming material particles to a film formation object by an RPD method, and includes a chamber for accommodating the film formation object and a plasma beam in the chamber. A plasma gun that emits a gas, a film-forming material that is provided in the chamber and generates film-forming material particles when irradiated with a plasma beam, and a main anode that guides the plasma beam to the film-forming material and a reaction in the chamber A reactive gas supply unit that supplies a reactive gas, an inert gas supply unit that supplies an inert gas into the chamber, a potential difference measurement unit that measures a potential difference between the plasma gun and the main anode, and a potential difference measurement unit. A flow rate control unit that controls the flow rate of the inert gas supplied from the inert gas supply unit so that the potential difference is within a predetermined target range.

  The film forming apparatus of the present invention is a film forming apparatus for performing a film forming process for attaching film forming material particles to a film formation object by the RPD method. A plasma gun that emits a plasma beam, a main anode that is provided in the chamber and holds the film forming material that generates film forming material particles by irradiation of the plasma beam, and that guides the plasma beam to the film forming material, and the chamber A reactive gas supply unit that supplies a reactive gas to the chamber, an inert gas supply unit that supplies an inert gas into the chamber, a pressure in the chamber, and a mobility of a film formed on the film Based on the information storage unit in which the predetermined correlation is stored and the correlation stored in the information storage unit, the pressure in the chamber falls within the target range of the pressure in the chamber corresponding to the desired mobility. Whole way and a flow control unit for controlling the flow rate of the inert gas supplied from the inert gas supply unit.

  In addition, the film forming method of the present invention is a film forming method for performing a film forming process for attaching film forming material particles to a film formation object by the RPD method. A plasma gun that emits a plasma beam, a main anode that is provided in the chamber and holds the film forming material that generates film forming material particles by irradiation of the plasma beam, and that guides the plasma beam to the film forming material, and the chamber A reactive gas supply unit that supplies a reactive gas to the chamber, an inert gas supply unit that supplies an inert gas into the chamber, and a potential difference measurement unit that measures a potential difference between the plasma gun and the main anode The apparatus includes a flow rate control step of controlling the flow rate of the inert gas supplied from the inert gas supply unit so that the potential difference measured by the potential difference measurement unit falls within a predetermined target range.

  In addition, the film forming method of the present invention is a film forming method for performing a film forming process for attaching film forming material particles to a film formation object by the RPD method. A plasma gun that emits a plasma beam, a main anode that is provided in the chamber and holds the film forming material that generates film forming material particles by irradiation of the plasma beam, and that guides the plasma beam to the film forming material, and the chamber A film forming apparatus including a reactive gas supply unit that supplies a reactive gas to the chamber and an inert gas supply unit that supplies an inert gas into the chamber is used to form the pressure in the chamber and the deposition target. Based on a predetermined correlation with the mobility of the film to be formed, the inert gas supply unit supplies the pressure in the chamber to be within the target range of the pressure in the chamber corresponding to the desired mobility. Comprising a flow rate control step of controlling the flow rate of the inert gas.

  According to the film forming apparatus and the film forming method of the present invention, the mobility of the formed film can be adjusted appropriately.

It is sectional drawing which shows the film-forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment. It is a graph which shows the result of the test which the present inventors conducted. It is another graph which shows the result of the test which the present inventors conducted. It is another graph which shows the result of the test which the present inventors conducted. (A), (b) is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of the information display part of the film-forming apparatus.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a film forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the film forming apparatus of the present invention. The film forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is a film forming apparatus that performs a film forming process in which film forming material particles are attached to a film formation object by an RPD (Reactive Plasma Deposition) method. For convenience of explanation, FIG. 1 shows an XYZ orthogonal coordinate system. The Y-axis direction is a direction in which a film formation target to be described later is conveyed. The X-axis direction is a direction in which a film formation target and an evaporation source 2 described later face each other. The Z-axis direction is a direction orthogonal to the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the film forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is in a state where the film forming object is tilted from an upright state or an upright state so that the thickness direction of the film forming object is a horizontal direction. This is a so-called vertical film forming apparatus in which a film forming object is arranged and transported in a vacuum chamber. In this case, the X-axis direction is the horizontal direction and the thickness direction of the film formation target, the Y-axis direction is the horizontal direction, and the Z-axis direction is the vertical direction. On the other hand, in one embodiment of the film forming apparatus according to the present invention, a so-called horizontal film forming apparatus in which the film forming object is arranged and transported in a vacuum chamber so that the thickness direction of the film forming object is substantially vertical. It may be a device. In this case, the Z-axis and Y-axis directions are horizontal directions, and the X-axis direction is a vertical direction and a thickness direction. In the following embodiments, an embodiment of the film forming apparatus of the present invention will be described by taking a vertical type as an example.

  The film forming apparatus 1 of this embodiment includes an evaporation source 2, a plasma gun 7, a transport mechanism 3, and a vacuum chamber 10. In the present embodiment, a plurality of evaporation sources 2 and plasma guns 7 are provided in the Z-axis direction.

  The vacuum chamber 10 includes a transfer chamber (film formation object placement unit) 10a for transferring a film formation target 11 on which a film of the film formation material is formed, and a film formation chamber 10b for diffusing particles of the film formation material Ma. And a plasma port 10 c for receiving the plasma beam P irradiated from the plasma gun 7 in the vacuum chamber 10. The transfer chamber 10a, the film forming chamber 10b, and the plasma port 10c communicate with each other. The transfer chamber 10a is set along a predetermined transfer direction (arrow A in the figure). In the present embodiment, the film forming chamber 10b of the vacuum chamber 10 extends in a direction (Z-axis direction) orthogonal to the transport direction A (Y-axis direction) and the thickness direction (X-axis direction) of the film-forming target 11. It has a rectangular parallelepiped shape.

  The transport mechanism 3 transports the film-forming target holding member 16 that holds the film-forming target 11 in the transport direction A while facing the film-forming material Ma. The transport mechanism 3 includes a plurality of transport rollers 15 installed in the transport chamber 10a. The transport rollers 15 are arranged at equal intervals along the transport direction A, and transport in the transport direction A while supporting the film formation target holding member 16. The film formation target 11 is a plate-like member such as a glass substrate or a plastic substrate. The film formation target holding member 16 is, for example, a transfer tray that holds the film formation target 11 with the film formation surface of the film formation target 11 exposed.

  The plasma gun 7 is of a pressure gradient type, and its main body is connected to the film forming chamber 10b through a plasma port 10c provided in the side wall 10h of the film forming chamber 10b. The plasma gun 7 generates a plasma beam P in the vacuum chamber 10. The plasma beam P generated in the plasma gun 7 is emitted from the plasma port 10c into the film forming chamber 10b. The exit direction of the plasma beam P is controlled by a steering coil (not shown) provided in the plasma port 10c. A plurality of plasma guns 7 may be provided for one film forming chamber 10b, and the plurality of plasma guns 7 may be arranged side by side in the Z-axis direction.

  The plasma gun 7 includes a glass tube 22 whose one end is closed by a cathode 21. In the glass tube 22, a cylinder 23 made of molybdenum (Mo) is fixed to the cathode 21. The cylinder 23 contains a disk 24 made of LaB6 and a pipe 25 made of tantalum (Ta). The pipe 25 is provided to introduce a carrier gas made of an inert gas such as argon (Ar) into the plasma gun 7.

  A first intermediate electrode 26 and a second intermediate electrode 27 are concentrically arranged in series between the end of the glass tube 22 opposite to the cathode 21 and the plasma port 10c. The first intermediate electrode 26 includes an annular permanent magnet 26 a for converging the plasma beam P. The second intermediate electrode 27 includes an electromagnetic coil 27a for converging the plasma beam P. A steering coil 28 that guides the plasma beam P into the film forming chamber 10b is provided around the plasma port 10c. A constant current supply current is supplied between the cathode 21 and the main hearth (main anode) 17 of the plasma gun 7, and the plasma beam P emitted from the plasma gun 7 is controlled to a constant current.

  The evaporation source 2 includes one main hearth (main anode) 17 and one ring hearth 6. The evaporation source 2 has a mechanism for holding the film forming material Ma. The evaporation source 2 is provided in the film forming chamber 10 b of the vacuum chamber 10 and is disposed in the negative direction of the X-axis direction when viewed from the transport mechanism 3.

  The main hearth 17 functions as a main anode that guides the plasma beam P emitted from the plasma gun 7 to the film forming material Ma or a main anode that guides the plasma beam P emitted from the plasma gun 7. The main hearth 17 has a cylindrical filling portion 17a that is filled with the film forming material Ma and extends in the positive direction of the X-axis direction, and a flange portion 17b that protrudes from the filling portion 17a. Since the main hearth 17 is kept at a positive potential with respect to the ground potential of the vacuum chamber 10, the main hearth 17 sucks the plasma beam P. A through hole 17c for filling the film forming material Ma is formed in the filling portion 17a of the main hearth 17 where the plasma beam P is incident. And the front-end | tip part of film-forming material Ma is exposed to the film-forming chamber 10b in the end of this through-hole 17c.

  The ring hearth 6 is an auxiliary anode having an electromagnet for guiding the plasma beam P. The ring hearth 6 is disposed around the filling portion 17a of the main hearth 17 that holds the film forming material Ma. The ring hearth 6 includes an annular coil 9, an annular permanent magnet portion 13, and an annular container 12, and the coil 9 and the permanent magnet portion 13 are accommodated in the container 12. The ring hearth 6 controls the direction of the plasma beam P incident on the film forming material Ma or the direction of the plasma beam P incident on the main hearth 17 according to the magnitude of the current flowing through the coil 9.

  Examples of the film forming material Ma include transparent conductive materials such as ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) and ZnO, and insulating sealing materials such as SiON. When the film forming material Ma is made of an insulating material, when the main hearth 17 is irradiated with the plasma beam P, the main hearth 17 is heated by the current from the plasma beam P, and the tip portion of the film forming material Ma evaporates. The film forming material particles Mb ionized by the plasma beam P diffuse into the film forming chamber 10b. When the film forming material Ma is made of a conductive material, when the main hearth 17 is irradiated with the plasma beam P, the plasma beam P is directly incident on the film forming material Ma, and the tip portion of the film forming material Ma is heated. The film forming material particles Mb evaporated and ionized by the plasma beam P diffuse into the film forming chamber 10b. The film forming material particles Mb diffused into the film forming chamber 10b move in the positive X-axis direction of the film forming chamber 10b and adhere to the surface of the film forming object 11 in the transfer chamber 10a.

  The film forming material Ma is a solid object formed into a cylindrical shape having a predetermined length, and a plurality of film forming materials Ma are filled in the main hearth 17 of the evaporation source 2 at a time. The film forming material Ma is the main source of the evaporation source 2 in accordance with the consumption of the film forming material Ma so that the tip portion of the film forming material Ma on the most advanced side maintains a predetermined positional relationship with the upper end of the main hearth 17. The hearths 17 are sequentially pushed out from the X axis negative direction side.

  The film forming apparatus 1 includes a reactive gas supply unit 18 and an inert gas supply unit 19. The reactive gas supply unit 18 supplies a reactive gas into the film forming chamber 10b. The reactive gas supply unit 18 includes a flow rate adjusting unit 18a that adjusts the supply flow rate of the reactive gas from the reactive gas source. The reactive gas is a gas that reacts with the film forming material particles Mb in the film forming chamber 10b and affects the structure of the film material formed on the film forming target 11. The inert gas supply unit 19 supplies an inert gas into the film forming chamber 10b. The inert gas supply unit 19 includes a flow rate adjusting unit 19a that adjusts the supply flow rate of the inert gas from the inert gas source. The inert gas does not react in the film forming chamber 10b and is mainly used for pressure adjustment in the film forming chamber 10b. As the flow rate adjusting units 18a and 19a, for example, a mass flow controller can be used. A pressure measuring unit 20 (for example, a pressure sensor) that measures the pressure in the chamber 10 is provided on the outer wall of the film forming chamber 10b.

  The film forming apparatus 1 is used, for example, in an application for forming an ITO film as a transparent electrode film on a glass substrate as part of a touch panel manufacturing process. Hereinafter, the case where an ITO film is formed on a glass substrate using the film forming apparatus 1 will be described as an example. In this case, the film formation target 11 is a glass substrate, and oxygen is used as a reactive gas and argon gas is used as an inert gas. The film forming material Ma is ITO, and the film forming material particles Mb are indium ion particles. For example, the temperature of the glass substrate during film formation is set to 200 ° C.

  In forming the ITO film, it is necessary to control the mobility and carrier density of the formed ITO film in accordance with the required specifications of the touch panel. Among these, the carrier density of the ITO film depends on the amount of oxygen in the chamber 10, and can be controlled by the oxygen supply flow rate from the reactive gas supply unit 18 into the chamber 10.

  On the other hand, control of the mobility of the ITO film will be described. The present inventors use a film forming apparatus having a configuration similar to that of the film forming apparatus 1 described above, and under conditions where the plasma beam P is controlled to a constant current, as shown in FIG. While changing the pressure condition, the incident energy distribution when the film-forming material particles Mb were incident on the glass substrate was measured.

In the experiment, the film-forming material Ma and ITO (Sn0 ₂ to 5 wt.% Containing), and the film-forming target 11 and non-alkali glass substrate. The substrate temperature during film formation was maintained at 200 ° C. The plasma current was 150 A and the voltage was 60-70V. The flow rate of argon gas introduced through the plasma gun 7 was 40 sccm. In order to control the energy of the film-forming material particles Mb, the pressure in the chamber 10 was controlled by the flow rate of the dilution gas (inert gas) argon gas and the reactive gas oxygen. The pressure in the chamber 10 was 0.18 to 0.71 Pa. The pressure in the chamber 10 was measured with a diaphragm type pressure gauge (for example, a ceramic capacitance manometer diaphragm gauge) capable of measuring the total pressure. The oxygen concentration in the chamber 10 was adjusted by controlling the flow rates of argon gas and oxygen so that the carrier density of the formed ITO film was 1.0 × 10 ²¹ cm ⁻³ . The incident energy of the film forming material particles Mb was measured with a mass energy analyzer installed at a position on the back side of the non-alkali glass substrate. As a mass spectrometer with an energy analyzer, Hiden Analytical EQP300 was used. In addition, the carrier density and mobility of the ITO film formed under each pressure condition were measured using Ecopia HMS-300 as a Hall effect measurement system.

  FIG. 2 is a graph showing the incident energy distribution for each pressure condition shown in the legend. The present inventors pay attention to the energy indicating the second peak in the incident energy distribution (hereinafter referred to as “second peak energy”), and as shown in FIG. 3, the second peak energy in the incident energy distribution, The relationship with the mobility of the ITO film formed under the incident energy distribution was graphed. As a result, the mobility of the formed ITO film depends on the second peak energy, and there is a correlation as shown in FIG. 3 between the second peak energy and the mobility of the formed ITO film. It was found that there is. Further, there are cases where three peaks appear in the incident energy distribution. In this case, the energy indicating the third peak in the incident energy distribution (hereinafter referred to as “third peak energy”) and the movement of the ITO film to be formed are included. It was found that there was a similar correlation with the degree. In the following, a case where two peaks appear in the incident energy distribution will be described as an example.

  The second peak is a peak having the second highest energy when counted from the low energy side peak when a plurality of peaks (for example, two peaks) appear in the incident energy distribution. For example, in FIG. These are peaks indicated by reference numerals 51 and 52. For example, when the ITO film is formed under a pressure condition of 0.18 Pa, the second peak is a position indicated by reference numeral 51, and the second peak energy is about 32 eV. Alternatively, the second peak energy may be defined from the difference distribution by taking the difference between each incident energy distribution and the incident energy distribution under a predetermined high pressure condition. For example, the graph shown in FIG. 4 shows the difference between the incident energy distributions of the pressure conditions 0.18 Pa, 0.29 Pa, 0.39 Pa, and 0.50 Pa shown in FIG. 2 and the incident energy distribution of 0.61 Pa. Is shown. Each of the peaks 61, 62, 63, and 64 in the difference distribution graph corresponds to the second peak in FIG. By this method, the second peak energy can be defined even for a graph in which the second peak is unclear in FIG.

  As understood from the graph of FIG. 2, since the distribution shape of the incident energy distribution varies depending on the pressure in the chamber 10, the second peak energy can be controlled by the pressure in the chamber 10. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the second peak energy moves to the lower energy side as the pressure in the chamber 10 increases.

  The second peak energy is considered to be energy derived from the potential difference between the film forming material Ma and the glass substrate at the time of film formation. The potential difference between the film forming material Ma and the glass substrate is related to the potential difference between the main hearth 17 and the cathode 21 of the plasma gun 7. Accordingly, there is also a correlation between the potential difference between the main hearth 17 and the cathode 21 of the plasma gun 7 (hereinafter referred to as “main hearth potential difference”) and the second peak energy.

  Based on the above knowledge of the present inventors, while monitoring the main Haas potential difference, the flow rate adjusting unit 19a adjusts the pressure in the chamber 10 so that the main Haas potential difference falls within a predetermined target range. By controlling the supply flow rate, an ITO film showing the mobility of a desired target range can be obtained.

  In order to enable such control, the film forming apparatus 1 includes an operation control unit 40 as shown in FIG. The operation control unit 40 includes a potential difference measurement unit 41, a flow rate control unit 42, an information display unit 43, an information storage unit 44, and a pressure detection unit 45. For example, the operation control unit 40 includes a computer. Functions of the potential difference measurement unit 41, the flow rate control unit 42, the information display unit 43, the information storage unit 44, and the pressure detection unit 45 are realized by the computer operating according to a predetermined operation control program.

  The potential difference measuring unit 41 measures the main hearth potential difference. The potential difference measuring unit 41 may include a predetermined analog electric circuit for acquiring the main Haas potential difference. The flow rate control unit 42 controls the flow rate of the argon gas supplied from the inert gas supply unit 19 so that the main Haas potential difference measured by the potential difference measurement unit 41 falls within a predetermined target range. The flow rate control unit 42 can manipulate the supply flow rate of argon gas into the chamber 10 by transmitting a drive signal to the flow rate adjustment unit 19a configured by, for example, a mass flow controller. When the flow rate control unit 42 operates the supply flow rate of the argon gas, the pressure in the chamber 10 changes. That is, the pressure in the chamber 10 increases as the supply flow rate of argon gas increases, and the pressure in the chamber 10 decreases as the supply flow rate of argon gas decreases.

  The information display unit 43 displays various information related to operation control. The information display unit 43 is configured by a display monitor, for example. The information storage unit 44 stores various information. In the information storage unit 44, for example, the correlation between the second peak energy and the mobility as illustrated in FIG. 3 (hereinafter referred to as “first correlation”), the main Haas potential difference and the second peak energy. A correlation (hereinafter, “second correlation”), a correlation between the pressure in the chamber 10 and the second peak energy (hereinafter, “third correlation”), and the like are stored in advance. Since such a correlation may indicate a unique relationship for each film forming apparatus 1, it may be obtained by a preliminary test for each apparatus. The pressure detection unit 45 acquires the pressure in the chamber 10 from the measurement value of the pressure measurement unit 20.

  Control by the operation control unit 40 will be described. In the film forming apparatus 1, the control target range of the mobility of the ITO film to be formed is input and set by the user. The flow rate control unit 42 reads the first correlation from the information storage unit 44 and acquires the second peak energy range corresponding to the mobility target range that has been input and set. Subsequently, the flow rate control unit 42 reads the second correlation from the information storage unit 44 and acquires the main Haas potential difference range corresponding to the second peak energy range. The main hearth potential difference range acquired here is set as the target range of the main hearth potential difference.

  Subsequently, the flow rate control unit 42 acquires the measurement value of the main hearth potential difference from the potential difference measurement unit 41, and controls the argon gas supply flow rate so that the measurement value falls within the target range of the main hearth potential difference. A control signal is transmitted to the flow rate adjusting unit 19a (flow rate control step). Here, if the argon gas supply flow rate is increased, the measured value of the main Haas potential difference tends to decrease, and if the argon gas supply flow rate is decreased, the measured value of the main Haas potential difference tends to increase. As described above, an ITO film showing the desired input mobility can be obtained.

  During this control, various measurement data may be displayed on the screen by the information display unit 43 as shown in FIG. In the screen example of FIG. 5A, the measured value of the main hearth potential difference by the potential difference measuring unit 41 is displayed in the voltage display column 71. Further, in the main Haas potential difference log display column 72, the history of the main Haas potential difference is displayed in a graph with the horizontal axis representing the elapsed time and the vertical axis representing the measured value of the main Haas potential difference. Similarly, the measured value of the pressure in the chamber 10 by the pressure detector 45 is displayed in the pressure display column 73. In the log display column 74, the horizontal axis is the elapsed time, and the vertical axis is the measured pressure value. The pressure history is displayed in a graph.

  Further, by switching the tab 75, a command value input screen may be displayed as shown in FIG. 5B as an example. In the screen example of FIG. 5B, a gas flow rate command value column 76 and an automatic adjustment check column 77 are displayed. If the automatic adjustment check column 77 is checked on this command value input screen, as described above, the supply flow rate of the inert gas by the flow rate adjusting unit 19a is automatically controlled so that the main Haas potential difference falls within the target range. The When the automatic adjustment check column 77 is not checked, an inert gas supply flow rate command value is input to the gas flow rate command value column 76 by operating the increase / decrease button 78 on the screen or a numeric keypad input operation. Can do. In this case, the supply flow rate of the inert gas is controlled using the input command value as the control target value.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 3, it can be seen that the mobility corresponding to the second peak energy of 12 to 30 eV does not vary much. Therefore, when the main hearth potential difference corresponding to this range becomes the target range, for example, even if there is a variation in incident energy for each position of the glass substrate (for example, between the end portion and the central portion of the glass substrate). The mobility of the formed ITO film becomes a close value. Therefore, in this case, an ITO film having a uniform mobility is easily formed on the glass substrate.

  In order to adjust the pressure in the chamber 10, a method of operating the oxygen supply flow rate by operating the flow rate adjusting unit 18a is also conceivable. However, as described above, since the oxygen supply flow rate also affects the carrier density of the formed ITO film, a method including an operation of the oxygen supply flow rate cannot be adopted as a method for independently controlling the mobility of the ITO film. Therefore, in the film forming apparatus 1, the pressure in the chamber 10 is adjusted by the operation of the argon gas supply flow rate.

(Second Embodiment)
Subsequently, a film forming apparatus and a film forming method according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Since the configuration of the present embodiment other than that described below is the same as that of the film forming apparatus and the film forming method of the first embodiment, a duplicate description is omitted.

  In the film forming apparatus of this embodiment, the information storage unit 44 shown in FIG. 1 stores the correlation between the pressure in the chamber 10 and the mobility of the ITO film (hereinafter, “fourth correlation”). . That is, there is a correlation (first correlation) between the second peak energy and mobility as described above, and a correlation (third correlation) between the pressure in the chamber 10 and the second peak energy. Therefore, the correlation (fourth correlation) between the pressure in the chamber 10 and the mobility of the ITO film can also be defined. Since the fourth correlation is unique to each film forming apparatus, it is obtained by a preliminary test for each apparatus.

  The flow rate control unit 42 in the film forming apparatus of this embodiment reads the fourth correlation from the information storage unit 44 and acquires the pressure range in the chamber 10 corresponding to the mobility target range input and set by the user. The pressure range acquired here is set as the target range of the pressure in the chamber 10. Subsequently, the flow rate control unit 42 acquires the measurement value of the pressure in the chamber 10 from the pressure detection unit 45, and controls the argon gas supply flow rate so that the measurement value falls within the target range of the pressure. A control signal is transmitted to the flow rate adjusting unit 19a. As described above, an ITO film showing the mobility set by input can be obtained.

  The first and second embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and may be modified without changing the gist described in each claim. Good. You may use combining the structure of each embodiment suitably. In the embodiment, the film forming process of the ITO film has been described as an example, but the present invention is also applicable to the film forming process of other films. As described above, when three peaks appear in the incident energy distribution, there is a correlation between the third peak energy and the mobility of the ITO film. In this case, the first and second implementations are performed. In the description of the embodiment, “second peak energy” may be read as “third peak energy”.

  In the first and second embodiments, the example in which the pressure in the chamber 10 is automatically controlled by the operation control unit 40 (for example, a computer) has been described. However, in the film forming method of the present invention, for example, the operation control unit 40 has The target range of the main hearth potential difference or the target range of the pressure in the chamber 10 corresponding to the set target mobility target range is calculated and displayed on the information display unit 43, and the user can display the chamber 10 based on this display. The pressure adjustment inside may be performed manually. For example, in this case, on the screen of FIG. 5B, the check value of the automatic adjustment check column 77 is removed, and the command value of the inert gas supply flow rate is input to the gas flow rate command value column 76, thereby manually. The pressure in the chamber 10 can be adjusted.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Film-forming apparatus, 7 ... Plasma gun, 10 ... Chamber, 11 ... Film-forming object (film-forming object), 17 ... Main hearth (main anode), 18 ... Reactive gas supply part, 19 ... Inert gas Supply part 41 ... Potential difference measurement part 42 ... Flow rate control part 43 ... Information display part 44 ... Information storage part Ma ... Film-forming material, P ... Plasma beam.

Claims (4)

A film forming apparatus for performing a film forming process for attaching film forming material particles to an object to be formed by the RPD method,
A chamber for accommodating the film-forming object;
A plasma gun for emitting a plasma beam into the chamber;
A main anode that is provided in the chamber and holds a film forming material that generates the film forming material particles by irradiation of the plasma beam, and guides the plasma beam to the film forming material;
A reactive gas supply unit for supplying a reactive gas into the chamber;
An inert gas supply unit for supplying an inert gas into the chamber;
A potential difference measuring unit for measuring a potential difference between the plasma gun and the main anode;
A flow rate control unit that controls the flow rate of the inert gas supplied from the inert gas supply unit so that the potential difference measured by the potential difference measurement unit falls within a predetermined target range;
A film forming apparatus comprising: A film forming apparatus for performing a film forming process for attaching film forming material particles to an object to be formed by the RPD method,
A chamber for accommodating the film-forming object;
A plasma gun for emitting a plasma beam into the chamber;
A main anode that is provided in the chamber and holds a film forming material that generates film forming material particles by irradiation of the plasma beam, and guides the plasma beam to the film forming material;
A reactive gas supply unit for supplying a reactive gas into the chamber;
An inert gas supply unit for supplying an inert gas into the chamber;
An information storage unit in which a predetermined correlation between the pressure in the chamber and the mobility of the film formed on the deposition object is stored;
Based on the correlation stored in the information storage unit, supply from the inert gas supply unit so that the pressure in the chamber falls within the target range of the pressure in the chamber corresponding to the desired mobility. A flow rate control unit for controlling the flow rate of the inert gas;
A film forming apparatus comprising: A film forming method for performing a film forming process for attaching film forming material particles to an object to be formed by the RPD method,
A chamber for accommodating the film-forming object;
A plasma gun for emitting a plasma beam into the chamber;
A main anode that is provided in the chamber and holds a film forming material that generates film forming material particles by irradiation of the plasma beam, and guides the plasma beam to the film forming material;
A reactive gas supply unit for supplying a reactive gas into the chamber;
An inert gas supply unit for supplying an inert gas into the chamber;
Using a film forming apparatus comprising a potential difference measuring unit that measures a potential difference between the plasma gun and the main anode,
A film forming method comprising a flow rate control step of controlling a flow rate of the inert gas supplied from the inert gas supply unit so that a potential difference measured by the potential difference measurement unit falls within a predetermined target range. A film forming method for performing a film forming process for attaching film forming material particles to an object to be formed by the RPD method,
A chamber for accommodating the film-forming object;
A plasma gun for emitting a plasma beam into the chamber;
A main anode that is provided in the chamber and holds a film forming material that generates film forming material particles by irradiation of the plasma beam, and guides the plasma beam to the film forming material;
A reactive gas supply unit for supplying a reactive gas into the chamber;
Using a film forming apparatus including an inert gas supply unit that supplies an inert gas into the chamber;
Based on a predetermined correlation between the pressure in the chamber and the mobility of the film formed on the deposition object, within the target range of the pressure in the chamber corresponding to the desired mobility. A film forming method comprising a flow rate control step of controlling a flow rate of the inert gas supplied from the inert gas supply unit so that the pressure in the chamber is contained.

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