JP4088822B2 - Vertical sputtering cathode switchgear - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a switch device for a vertical sputtering cathode in a substantially upright state. Accompanying the recent trend toward larger and thinner substrates, the advantages of a vertical sputtering apparatus capable of forming a film with the substrate substantially upright are being evaluated.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, the tendency of liquid crystal displays and solar cells to increase in size has become remarkable, and along with this, the practical development of a 1 m class large substrate for film formation has been promoted. When such a large substrate is handled by the conventional horizontal method, various problems are encountered. For example, due to the increase in size and thickness of the substrate, the horizontally mounted substrate is likely to bend and warp due to its own weight, and it is difficult to perform precise film formation in terms of film thickness and flatness. Further, particularly during transport, according to a general tray transport as a horizontal transport system, the number of parts such as a transport carrier is large, and the entire surface of the large-sized substrate comes into contact with the tray, which causes generation of particles. Furthermore, the film forming apparatus structure becomes large corresponding to the substrate area, and it is necessary to secure a considerable occupation space.
[0003]
Therefore, there is a case where a vertical method for forming a film on a substantially upright substrate is used instead of the horizontal method as described above. However, in the case of a vertical sputtering apparatus, a set of heavy sputtering cathodes (including a target) is also configured in a vertical type, and there is a concern that workability during maintenance may be reduced. In other words, in order to facilitate maintenance work, the cathode surface is often placed in a horizontal state from the vertical state during operation, and the sputtering cathode is placed horizontally. For this purpose, a heavy object is supported and controlled. However, a process for opening and closing the cathode surface and a process time required for this process are required. With the increase in the size of the substrate, the load load and the process time required for this opening / closing operation tend to further increase.
[0004]
As a maintenance measure using this type of opening / closing operation mechanism, for example, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-312070 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-76661, a vertical sputtering evaporation source and a target surface are tilted around an axis to be horizontal. What is in the state is known. These components are placed in a horizontal state by an opening / closing mechanism, thereby facilitating maintenance work of sputtering apparatus components.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, when the maintenance is performed by the conventional opening / closing operation mechanism, with the progress of the increase in the size of the substrate, securing a space during the maintenance becomes a new problem. In other words, as the size of the substrate increases, the parts such as sputtering cathodes also increase in size and weight, and heavy equipment is often used for replacement and maintenance work during maintenance. It is necessary to secure a sufficient space for the arrangement.
[0006]
However, in the conventional apparatus having the opening / closing operation mechanism as described above, since the operation direction of the opening / closing mechanism to the horizontal state is fixed, the space layout at the time of maintenance cannot be easily changed. The negative effect of this is that, especially in a large-scale film deposition system with a multi-chamber structure in which a large number of processing chambers are arranged around the core chamber, the movement of workers and transport equipment during maintenance cannot be performed linearly. Further, even in the process lines arranged in parallel, the movement work performed between the lines is specifically shown in the form of inefficiency.
[0007]
In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a vertical sputtering cathode opening and closing device capable of efficiently performing maintenance work by easily securing a space for maintenance in response to an increase in size of a substrate. It is an issue.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a swiveling mechanism for swiveling a vertical sputtering cathode around an axis in the vertical direction along either one of the left and right side edges of the cathode, and a vertical sputtering cathode, An open / close mechanism that opens and closes around a substantially horizontal axis along the lower edge of the cathode is provided to constitute a vertical sputtering open / close device.
[0009]
As a result, the cathode is opened around the vertical axis along the left or right side edge of the cathode while being kept in the vertical arrangement state of the cathode, and is made stationary at the maintenance work position. Thus, the cathode is opened around the horizontal axis along the lower edge of the cathode to be in a horizontal state. In other words, before the opening / closing operation in which the heavy cathode is supported and controlled by the opening / closing mechanism, the position of the cathode that occupies a large area in the horizontal state is adjusted by the turning mechanism, so that the work space can be effectively utilized. It becomes easy. Therefore, for example, by performing maintenance work with all the vertical cathodes mounted in the process line in a standby state by the above-described turning and opening / closing mechanism, maintenance space can be allocated efficiently, and the efficiency of the maintenance work is Will improve.
[0010]
In this case, a power cylinder is suitable as an operating means for the above-described turning mechanism and opening / closing mechanism. Thereby, these mechanisms can be operated reliably.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is an overall view of a single wafer type vertical sputtering film forming apparatus provided with a vertical sputtering cathode opening / closing device of the present invention. This apparatus is divided into an atmosphere side system and a vacuum chamber side system, and the atmosphere side system is composed of a substrate transfer system 3 having a substrate cassette 2 for storing a large number of substrates 1, while the vacuum chamber side system. The charging / discharging chamber 4, the vacuum robot chamber 5, and the multi-sputter chamber 6 are configured to communicate with each other via a gate valve (not shown). The multi-sputtering chamber 6 has vertical sputtering cathodes 7a to 7c mounted from three directions.
[0012]
The sputtering cathodes 7a to 7c are each integrated with a sputtering target (not shown) mounted inside, and these are configured to be openable and closable around a horizontal axis provided at a lower end edge thereof. In the state where the sputtering cathodes 7a to 7c are closed in the multi-sputter chamber 6 as shown in FIG. 1, the degree of adhesion between the sputtering chamber 6 and the sputtering cathodes 7a to 7c is strengthened by using the pressure by the atmospheric pressure. Moreover, sputtering cathode 7a-7c is each supported by the support stand 9a-9c provided directly under the lower end part. And the support bases 9a-9c are earth | grounded to the floor surface with the roller 10 so that it can move with every upper sputtering cathode 7a-7c.
[0013]
Usually, in a semiconductor factory, a large number of process lines connected with the sputter deposition apparatus as described above are installed in parallel. And at the time of a maintenance, work, such as target exchange, will be performed between a line installed in parallel and a line using a worker or a transportation device. The semiconductor factory is maintained in a clean room environment to prevent contamination such as suspended particles, but in order to maintain a clean environment, it is necessary to make such a maintenance space compact in terms of economy and process efficiency. Requested.
[0014]
In view of such a demand, the present invention provides a swiveling mechanism that revolves around the vertical axis along one of the left and right side edges of the vertical sputtering cathode, and a substantially horizontal direction along the lower edge of the vertical sputtering cathode. An open / close mechanism that opens and closes about the axis of the vertical sputtering open / close device is configured. The main part of the cathode switching device will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0015]
FIG. 2 shows the turning mechanism of the present invention described above. Referring to FIG. 2, on the side edge 20 side of the sputter cathode 7 c, the turn between the cathode support base 9 c and the support leg 6 a of the multi-sputter chamber 6 is composed of a cathode turn cylinder 21 and a turn hinge 22. Connected by mechanism. The turning hinge portion 22 is configured to be rotatable about the vertical rotation shaft 22 c by the operation of the turning cylinder 21. A known cylinder can be used as the swivel cylinder 21 used for this, and it may be, for example, an air cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder as long as it has an ability to swivel and move a heavy cathode.
[0016]
The cathode 7c can be opened and closed with respect to the sputtering chamber 6 by using the above-described turning mechanism and turning around a rotation axis in the vicinity of the side edge 20 in a vertical state. In the state where the cathode 7c is closed, the cathode support base 9c and the sputtering chamber support leg 6b are fixed by the fixing screw 23 in order to ensure the degree of adhesion.
[0017]
On the other hand, FIG. 3 shows the opening / closing mechanism of the present invention described above. Referring to FIG. 3, an opening / closing mechanism including a pair of cathode opening / closing cylinders 31 is provided at both ends of the horizontal rotating shaft 30 provided at the lower edge of 7c. The opening / closing mechanism is configured to be rotatable around the horizontal rotation shaft 30 by the operation of the cathode opening / closing cylinder 31. Also, a known cylinder can be used as the open / close cylinder 31 used for this, and it may be, for example, an air cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder as long as it has an ability to control open / close while supporting a heavy cathode. When the cathode 7c is opened / closed using the above opening / closing mechanism, the opening / closing column 32 for fixing to the floor surface is provided in the vicinity of each of the rollers 10 in order to prevent wobbling by the hinge portion 22 of the turning mechanism. The device stability is improved when the opening / closing mechanism is operated. Such a turning mechanism and an opening / closing mechanism are provided in all the sputtering cathodes 7a to 7c.
[0018]
FIG. 4 is a target exchange process diagram performed during maintenance using the cathode turning mechanism and the opening / closing mechanism configured as described above.
[0019]
A single-wafer multi-sputter chamber 6 configured by three sides shown in FIG. 4 surrounded by vertical sputtering cathodes 7a to 7c is an end portion of the vacuum chamber side system of the film forming apparatus shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, the connected devices after the vacuum robot chamber 2 connected to this are not shown. As described above, in a semiconductor factory, process lines including the multi-sputter chamber 6 as shown in FIG. 4 are often arranged in parallel, and the downsizing of the apparatus configuration depends on the distance between adjacent lines. Sometimes. However, in particular, as the trend toward larger substrates has become established, the distance between lines may have increased compared to before in order to secure a maintenance area for the vertical sputtering cathode. There is nothing to do.
[0020]
For this reason, the multi-sputter chamber 6 is configured by using the cathode switching device of the present invention, and when the target is replaced during maintenance, first, the operation of the vacuum exhaust device (not shown) is stopped to In the state where the pressure is returned to the atmospheric pressure, each of the fixing bolts 23 for fixing the cathode support portion 9c is removed as shown in FIG. Next, the turning cylinder 21 constituting the cathode turning mechanism shown in FIG. 2 is operated to turn the cathode 7c around the rotation shaft 22c of the turning hinge part 22 and open the cathode 7c together with the support part 9c in the forward direction ( (Refer FIG.4 (b)).
[0021]
Further, as shown in FIG. 4 (c), when the cathode 7c is turned by a predetermined angle, the pair of support columns 32 are grounded to the floor surface so that the support portion 9c and the cathode 7c connected thereto are opened to the floor surface. Fix it securely. Next, the open / close cylinder 31 of the cathode open / close mechanism shown in FIG. 3 is operated to rotate the cathode 7c about the horizontal rotation shaft 8c, and the target surface 40 is used as the upper surface as shown in FIG. Tilt to a horizontal position. Of course, these two steps may be performed simultaneously.
[0022]
After such a state, the fixing bolt of the backing plate integrally formed with the target is removed manually by an operator, or a heavy material transport device such as a forklift (not shown) is installed on the upper edge of the horizontal cathode 7c. The target is removed by approaching it.
[0023]
In order to return the cathode 7c to the original vertical state at the end of the maintenance, the above reverse process may be followed. Such a process is performed for each of the sputtering cathodes 7a to 7c to complete the maintenance work.
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
As is clear from the above description, the position of the cathode having a large occupied area in the horizontal state is adjusted obliquely with respect to the film formation chamber by the operation of the swivel mechanism using the vertical sputtering cathode switching device of the present invention. After that, the cathode can be opened horizontally by the opening and closing device, so that effective use of the space during maintenance becomes easy. This improves the efficiency of maintenance work.
[0025]
Furthermore, by using such an apparatus, it is possible to make the entire apparatus configuration and line configuration in the factory compact.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall view of a single-wafer type vertical sputtering film forming apparatus. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a turning mechanism of a vertical sputtering cathode switch. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an opening / closing mechanism of a vertical sputtering cathode switch. 4] Target exchange process diagram [Explanation of symbols]
6 Multi-sputtering chambers 7a to 7c Sputtering cathodes 8a to 8c Horizontal rotating shafts 9a to 9c Cathode support portion 20 Sputtering cathode side edge 21 Cathode turning cylinder 22 Turning hinge portion 22c Vertical rotating shaft 31 Cathode opening / closing cylinder 32 Column 40 Target surface

Claims (2)

A vertical sputtering cathode that swings around a vertical axis along one of the left and right edges of the cathode, and an open / close that opens and closes around a substantially horizontal axis along the lower edge of the cathode And a vertical sputtering cathode opening and closing device. The vertical sputtering cathode opening / closing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a power cylinder is used as the turning mechanism and the opening / closing mechanism.

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