JP2579540Y2 - Ion plating equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ion plating apparatus for forming a metal film or a metal compound film by ionizing a metal vapor in a vacuum vessel and attaching it to the surface of a substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of ion plating apparatus uses an arc discharge type plasma gun as a plasma source for performing ion plating.
In this ion plating, metal vapor is ionized by plasma in a vacuum vessel and adhered to the surface of a substrate provided in the vacuum vessel to form a metal film or an alloy film.

[0003] For this purpose, the ion plating apparatus is provided with a heating power source for dissolving and evaporating the metal material and a plasma generating means for generating plasma. For example, if a single metal material is used, a metal film is formed on the surface of the substrate. Further, a metal compound film is formed on the surface of the substrate by a reactive ion plating method using a reactive gas plasma. A film formed by ion plating has an advantage that a film having high density and excellent adhesion can be easily obtained as compared with a film formed by ordinary vacuum deposition.

In general, means for heating a metal includes resistance heating, induction heating, heating by an electron gun (EB), arc discharge [for example, discharge by a hollow cathode gun,
Discharge by pressure gradient plasma gun, multi-arc discharge]
And the like. Means for generating plasma include DC glow discharge, RF discharge, microwave discharge, and EC.
R discharge, DC arc discharge and the like can be mentioned.

Therefore, various methods have been proposed for ion plating that combine such heating means and plasma generation means. Here, EB + RF system, EB + DC arc discharge system,
The hollow cathode (HCD) system and the pressure gradient plasma gun system will be described.

[0006] The EB + RF system and the EB + DC arc system are obtained by evaporating a metal material using EB and further combining them with an RF discharge or a DC arc discharge as a plasma generation source. In the HCD method, arc discharge is performed using a metal pipe as a cathode and a crucible or hearth loaded with a metal material to be vaporized as an anode, and the heat and plasma generated at this time simultaneously vaporize and ionize the metal material. Things. The pressure gradient plasma gun system is basically the same as the HCD system, and arc discharge is performed from the cathode pressure gradient plasma gun to the anode crucible or hearth (hereinafter, described as a case using only the crucible). And the vaporization and ionization of the metal material are simultaneously performed.

Among them, the pressure gradient plasma gun system is
Compared to other ion plating methods, there are advantages that the cathode has a longer life and that the shape of the plasma can be adjusted and controlled by a magnetic field. Further, the pressure gradient plasma gun system does not damage the cathode even if oxygen gas plasma is used, and does not require an electrode which is required by another ion plating method as a plasma generating means for ionization.

For these reasons, the ion plating by the pressure gradient plasma gun method is more advantageous in terms of productivity and facility setting than the ion plating apparatus by other methods when configuring the apparatus. I have.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a basic configuration of an ion plating apparatus employing reactive ion plating by a pressure gradient plasma gun method. The ion plating apparatus has a vacuum container 10 provided with a gas supply E for supplying a reaction gas, the inside of which is kept in a vacuum atmosphere, and a metal material provided in the vacuum container 10 for melting and evaporating the filled metal material. The crucible 2 includes a crucible 2 and a substrate 4 which is disposed at a predetermined position in the vacuum vessel 10 and to which a film-forming metal gas generated by evaporation and ionization of a metal material is attached.

The vacuum vessel 10 is provided with a mounting port F. The mounting port F is provided with one arc discharge type plasma gun (beam generator) for forming a plasma S between the vacuum vessel 10 and the crucible 2. ) 1 is mounted.

Further, a power supply section is provided between the crucible 2 and the arc discharge type plasma gun 1, and a discharge adjusting circuit 2 for supplying power to the crucible 2 and the arc discharge type plasma gun 1 is provided.
00 is connected. The discharge adjusting circuit 200 includes a variable resistor 5 and a power supply unit 6 connected in series between the arc discharge type plasma gun 1 and the ground, and is separately connected to two main parts of the arc discharge type plasma gun 1. The two resistors and the power supply section 6 are connected in parallel with each other between the crucible 2 and the ground. The vacuum vessel 10 is provided with an exhaust port H.

The crucible 2 has a magnet 2a and forms an anode. Also, an appropriate bias voltage can be applied to the substrate 4.

In the ion plating apparatus having such a configuration, when electric power is supplied to the crucible 2 and the arc discharge type plasma gun 1 by the discharge adjusting circuit 200, the vacuum vessel 1
A plasma S in the form of a beam is generated in the space 0, and the metal vapor is ionized in the plasma S, adheres to the surface of the substrate 4, and is formed as a metal film.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the above-described ion plating apparatus, a pressure gradient plasma gun, an HCD
In the case of using an arc discharge type plasma gun such as a gun, the gun is provided corresponding to the number of crucibles. Therefore, an ion plating apparatus that forms an alloy film using a plurality of crucibles includes a plurality of arc discharge plasma guns corresponding to the number of crucibles.

However, an ion plating apparatus equipped with a plurality of crucibles and an arc discharge type plasma gun has a drawback that the load on the exhaust system of the vacuum vessel is likely to be increased because the amount of carrier gas increases in the vacuum vessel. .

In particular, when metal materials having different physical properties such as a melting point and a vapor pressure correlated with securing the melting point are used in order to generate a film forming metal gas for an alloy film, the temperature is varied for each crucible and the steam is changed. It is necessary to adjust the amount of evaporation. Because of this,
In addition to the load on the exhaust system, complicated control is required for power supply to the discharge circuit.

For example, in the case of an ion plating apparatus using EB, such as an EB + RF system or an EB + DC arc system, various metal materials are evaporated while scanning between a plurality of crucibles, and each crucible of a beam is scanned by a scanning control circuit. By changing the residence time for each crucible, an appropriate temperature is given to each crucible.

However, in the case of an ion plating apparatus using the HCD method or the pressure gradient type plasma gun method, the arc discharge type plasma gun cannot finely adjust the beam direction. It is difficult to obtain an appropriate temperature for each crucible. That is, this ion plating apparatus has a weak point that it is difficult to adapt to formation of an alloy film.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and its technical problem is that an alloy film can be easily formed by ion plating and the burden on each part can be minimized. An object of the present invention is to provide an ion plating apparatus using an arc discharge type plasma gun.

[0020]

According to the present invention, a plurality of crucibles or a plurality of hearths provided in a vacuum vessel for dissolving and evaporating filled metal materials having different characteristics, and a mounting opening of the vacuum vessel are provided. A single arc discharge type plasma gun that is mounted, disperses and irradiates a beam onto a plurality of crucibles or a plurality of hearths, and forms a plasma between the plurality of crucibles or a plurality of hearths in the vacuum vessel, and In order to ionize the provided substrate and metal vapor in the plasma and attach it to the surface of the substrate to perform ion plating,
A discharge adjusting circuit for supplying power to a plurality of crucibles or a plurality of hearths and one arc discharge type plasma gun; further, the discharge adjusting circuit includes one power supply unit and a plurality of crucibles or a plurality of hearths; And a current control circuit connected to the predetermined device and capable of adjusting the supply current when the power supply unit supplies power to the predetermined device.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a basic configuration of an ion plating apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention employing a reactive ion plating by a pressure gradient plasma gun method.

This ion plating apparatus has a gas supply port E for supplying a reaction gas while the inside thereof is maintained in a vacuum atmosphere.
, A crucible 2A, 2B provided in the vacuum vessel 10 for melting and evaporating a separately filled metal material, and a substrate disposed at a predetermined position in the vacuum vessel 10. 4 is provided.

In addition, one arc discharge type plasma gun (a beam generating beam) for generating a beam-shaped plasma S between each of the crucibles 2A and 2B in the vacuum vessel 10 is provided in a mounting port F provided in the vacuum vessel 10. 1) is mounted.

Further, between the crucibles 2A, 2B and the arc discharge type plasma gun 1, a variable resistor 5 and a power supply section 6 are included, and electric power supplied to the crucibles 2A, 2B and the arc discharge type plasma gun 1 is provided. An adjustable discharge adjustment circuit 100 is connected. The discharge adjusting circuit 100 includes a drive circuit for driving the arc discharge type plasma gun 1 and a control circuit for controlling the drive circuit. More specifically, this discharge adjustment circuit 100 includes a variable resistor 5 and a power supply unit 6 as a drive circuit connected in series between the arc discharge type plasma gun 1 and the ground, and a crucible 2B and the ground. In addition to being connected in series, crucible 2B
A current control circuit 3 as a control circuit capable of adjusting a supply current when power is supplied from the power supply unit 6 to the power supply unit 6, two resistors separately connected to two main parts of the arc discharge type plasma gun 1, The resistor 5 and the power supply unit 6 and the current control circuit 3 are connected in parallel between the crucible 2A and the ground, respectively. In addition, crucibles 2A and 2B
Are provided with magnets 2a and 2b, respectively, and are connected to the anode. The vacuum vessel 10 is provided with an exhaust port H.

In the ion plating apparatus having such a configuration, the crucibles 2A and 2B are filled with metal materials having different characteristics, and the crucibles 2A and 2B are charged by the discharge adjusting circuit 100.
When power is supplied to the plasma gun 2B and the arc discharge type plasma gun 1, a beam-shaped plasma S is generated in the vacuum vessel 10, and the vapor of each metal material is ionized in the plasma S, and the surface of the substrate 4 A film is formed.

At this time, the crucible 2A is connected to the discharge adjusting circuit 10
Although the supply current is not adjusted by 0, the supply current of the crucible 2B is adjusted by the current control circuit 3 provided in the discharge adjustment circuit 100. On the other hand, by appropriately changing the temperature, the amount of evaporation of each metal material at the time of vaporization can be adjusted as desired. For example, if the supply current of the crucible 2B is to be suppressed, the crucible 2A will be the main crucible and the crucible 2B will be the auxiliary crucible.

Under such conditions, the crucible 2B is filled with a metal material having a lower melting point and a lower vapor pressure, assuming that metal materials having different melting points and different vapor pressures for securing the melting point are used. When performing the reactive ion plating, an alloy film formed on the surface of the substrate 4 is obtained by uniformly mixing the respective metal gases, and the film quality of the formed film is dense and excellent in adhesion. Become something. The discharge adjusting circuit 100 can set the crucibles 2A and 2B by setting the power supplied to the crucible 2A and the arc discharge type plasma gun 1 and the crucible 2B and the current supplied to the crucible 2B to appropriate values in advance.
Can be supplied with different supply powers, so that no load is applied to the exhaust system in the vacuum vessel 10 by the carrier gas when generating the film-forming metal gas.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing another example of a part of the ion plating apparatus shown in FIG. Here, in the discharge adjustment circuit 100, a current control circuit 3 is interposed so as to control the supply current to the crucible 2A out of the crucibles 2A and 2B, thereby forming a control circuit. In this case, the crucible 2A becomes an auxiliary crucible,
Since the crucible 2B is the main crucible, if the crucible 2A is filled with a metal material having a lower melting point and a lower vapor pressure, the same effect as that described above can be obtained.

Although the embodiment has been described with respect to an ion plating apparatus having two crucibles 2A and 2B,
The number of crucibles may be three or more. Further, the crucible may be replaced with a hearth. Further, although the ion plating apparatus of the embodiment is of the pressure gradient plasma gun type, an equivalent ion plating apparatus may be configured by using an HCD method instead.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, a high-quality alloy film can be easily formed by ion plating under a condition in which the load on the exhaust system and the discharge circuit system of the vacuum vessel is sufficiently suppressed. An ion plating apparatus using an arc discharge type plasma gun is obtained. In addition, also in the case of the ion plating apparatus of the present invention, it is advantageous in terms of productivity, facility setting, and the like, when configuring the apparatus, compared to an ion plating apparatus using another method that does not use an arc discharge type plasma gun. Become. As described above, the ion plating apparatus of the present invention has a very high utility value.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a basic configuration of an ion plating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing another example of a part of the ion plating apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a basic configuration of a conventional ion plating apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Arc discharge type plasma gun 2, 2A, 2B crucible 2a, 2b Magnet 3 Current control circuit 4 Substrate 5 Variable resistor 6 Power supply unit 10 Vacuum container 100, 200 Discharge adjustment circuit S Plasma

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tatsuro Araki 5-2, Sokai-cho, Niihama-shi, Ehime Prefecture Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. Niihama Works (56) References JP-A-2-101160 (JP, A) This promotion, "How to bend the discharge plasma flow for ion plating", Masaki, February 20, 1984, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 64-71. High Performance Sheet Plasma for Area Ion Plating, "Vacuum, November 20, 1982, Vol. 25, No. 11, pp. 719-726 (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) C23C 14/00-14/58

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] A plurality of crucibles or hearths provided in a vacuum vessel for melting and evaporating filled metal materials having different characteristics; and a plurality of crucibles or said hearths mounted on a mounting opening of the vacuum vessel. One arc discharge type plasma gun that irradiates a beam onto a plurality of hearths and forms plasma between the plurality of crucibles or the plurality of hearths in a vacuum vessel, and a substrate provided in the vacuum vessel To ionize metal vapor in the plasma and adhere to the surface of the substrate to perform ion plating,
A discharge adjusting circuit that supplies power to the plurality of crucibles or the plurality of hearths and the one arc discharge type plasma gun; further, the discharge adjusting circuit includes one power supply unit and the plurality of crucibles or A current control circuit connected to a predetermined one of the plurality of hearths and capable of adjusting a supply current when the power supply unit supplies power to the predetermined hearth; .