JP4234851B2 - Deposition equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus for forming a film on a substrate by a CVD method (chemical vapor deposition method), and in particular, a SiO ₂ film, ITO film (transparent conductive film), SnO ₂ film (ATO) on a glass substrate or the like. , FTO) and the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
When manufacturing an ITO glass substrate used as a display unit such as a calculator, a clock, a timer, or a liquid crystal display unit such as a digital camera or an input touch panel connected to a computer, a cleaning device, a sorting device, a transport device, A production line composed of a film forming apparatus or the like is used.
[0003]
Since the film formation method in the film forming apparatus in this production line uses a reaction between the active ingredient of the raw material drug in the gas phase and contact with the solid, it is an area where the active ingredient that can become a film can wrap around. A film is formed on all solids, and as a result, a film is formed not only on the glass substrate but also on the inner wall surface of the film forming furnace.
When these films are formed beyond a certain film thickness, they start to peel off and become peeled pieces, that is, dust, fall on the glass substrate, leading to product defects.
[0004]
Therefore, in order to prevent the above-described defects from occurring, the film forming apparatus is periodically disassembled, and a cleaning operation is performed to remove and remove the film attached to the inner wall surface of the film forming furnace.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, such a cleaning operation is to blow abrasives such as sand with compressed air on the inner wall surface of a film forming furnace or the like to which the film has adhered, and thus peel off the film to every corner. It is difficult to remove, and the inside of the film forming furnace is contaminated over the entire area due to scattering of sand as a polishing material and film peeling pieces, and further, it is necessary to perform cleaning after the peeling process, Overall, this cleaning operation took a long time.
In addition, during this cleaning operation, dust, dust, etc. are generated, so even if one line is cleaned, the film forming process on the other line must be interrupted, resulting in a decrease in productivity. there were.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and the object of the present invention is to improve the yield without causing defects such as pinholes and to reduce the time required for cleaning work and the like. An object of the present invention is to provide a film forming apparatus that can be shortened to improve productivity.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
As a result of intensive studies to achieve the above object, the present inventor has found an invention having the following configuration.
That is, the film forming apparatus of the present invention supplies a film raw material into a film forming furnace that defines a space for accommodating a substrate, and generates a film on the surface of the substrate by a chemical vapor deposition method. And it has the inner wall board arrange | positioned so that attachment or detachment is possible with respect to the inner wall surface of the said film-forming furnace, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.
According to this configuration, in the film forming furnace, the effective component in a gas phase that can be a film adheres to the surface of the inner wall plate provided separately from the inner wall surface of the film forming furnace. Therefore, when the inside of the film forming furnace is cleaned, the attached unnecessary film is removed simply by removing and cleaning the inner wall plate or replacing it with a new inner wall plate.
[0008]
In the above-described configuration, the substrate has a conveying unit that continuously conveys the substrate in a predetermined direction, and the film forming furnace is formed so as to define a space that covers a part of the conveying unit and the substrate placed on the conveying unit. Can be adopted.
According to this configuration, in the film forming furnace that continuously forms a film on a plurality of substrates placed on the transfer means, the effective component in the vapor phase that can be a film is separated from the inner wall surface of the film forming furnace. Is attached to the surface of the separately provided inner wall plate, the attached unnecessary film is removed simply by removing the inner wall plate and cleaning or replacing it with a new inner wall plate.
[0009]
In the above configuration, the film forming furnace is connected to the raw material supply passage for supplying the raw material of the film and the exhaust passage for exhausting the inside of the film forming furnace, and the inner wall plate is disposed at least in the region where the exhaust passage is connected. It is possible to adopt the configuration as described above.
According to this configuration, since the inner wall plate is disposed in the region of the exhaust passage where the film easily adheres, the inner wall plate disposed in this region can be removed and cleaned or replaced with a new inner wall plate. Adhering unnecessary film is efficiently removed.
[0010]
In the above configuration, it is possible to employ a configuration in which the inner wall plate is disposed in at least a part of the inner wall surface of the exhaust passage.
According to this configuration, since the inner wall plate is also disposed in the inner region of the exhaust passage where the film easily adheres, only the inner wall plate disposed in this region is removed and cleaned or replaced with a new inner wall plate. Therefore, the adhering unnecessary film is efficiently removed, and clogging of the exhaust passage is prevented.
[0011]
In the above configuration, the second inner wall plate is detachably disposed with respect to at least a part of the inner wall surface of the exhaust passage, and the inner wall plate is suspended by the second inner wall plate to form a film forming furnace. The structure fixed to the inner wall surface of can be employ | adopted.
According to this configuration, since the inner wall plate is disposed in the inner region of the exhaust passage where the film easily adheres, the inner wall plate disposed in this region can be removed and cleaned or replaced with a new inner wall plate. Adhering unnecessary films are efficiently removed, and clogging of the exhaust passage is prevented. In addition, since the inner wall plate arranged in the film forming furnace is suspended and fixed by the second inner wall plate arranged in the exhaust passage, the second inner wall plate is removed, so that The arranged inner wall board is easily removed.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
1 to 6 are a schematic configuration diagram showing a film forming apparatus according to the present invention and an enlarged view showing a part of the film forming apparatus in an enlarged manner.
[0013]
The film forming apparatus according to this embodiment manufactures an ITO glass substrate used as a liquid crystal display such as a calculator, a clock, a timer, a digital camera, an electroluminescence display, a surface heating element, an input touch panel connected to a computer, and the like. Is.
[0014]
This film forming apparatus uses a pyrosol film forming method, which is a kind of atmospheric pressure CVD method. In this film forming process, the glass substrate is preheated to about 500 ° C. while being conveyed one by one. Then, an SiO ₂ film and an ITO film are sequentially laminated on the heated glass substrate. Subsequently, the glass substrate on which these films are formed, that is, the ITO glass substrate is cooled to room temperature.
[0015]
As shown in FIG. 1, this film forming apparatus is mounted on a belt conveyor 50 as a conveying means for continuously conveying in one direction with a glass substrate placed thereon, a part of the belt conveyor 50 and a belt conveyor. A film forming furnace for defining a space covering the placed glass substrate, that is, a plurality of film forming furnaces 60 for forming an SiO ₂ film or an ITO film, and a raw material supply for supplying film raw materials into the film forming furnace 60 A passage 61 and an exhaust passage 62 for exhausting the inside of the film forming furnace 60 are provided.
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 1, the film forming furnace 60 includes a muffle main body 63 that surrounds the upper surface of the belt conveyor 50 and demarcates a film forming space. The muffle main body 63 extends in the horizontal direction. A conveyance passage portion 63a having a substantially rectangular cross section surrounding the belt conveyor 50 on which the glass substrate is placed, a chamber portion 63b projecting upward from the upper wall surface of the conveyance passage portion 63a and having a substantially rectangular cross section, The exhaust passage portion 63c is disposed so as to sandwich the chamber portion 63b in the transport direction and protrudes upward from the upper wall surface of the transport passage portion 63a and has a substantially rectangular cross section. The exhaust passage portion 63c forms one exhaust passage together with the exhaust passage 62 connected to the upper flange portion 63c ′. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a raw material supply passage 61 for atomizing and supplying the raw material for forming the SiO ₂ film or the ITO film is connected to the chamber portion 63b.
[0017]
The region where the exhaust passage 62 of the film forming furnace 60 is connected, that is, the region where the exhaust passage portion 63c protrudes from the transport passage portion 63a of the muffle body 63 and the region of the upper inner wall surface of the transport passage portion 63a is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, an inner wall plate 70 is detachably attached to the inner wall surface. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1, the 2nd inner wall board 71 is arrange | positioned at the inner wall surface of the exhaust passage part 63c so that attachment or detachment with respect to this inner wall surface is possible.
[0018]
As shown in FIG. 2, the inner wall plate 70 includes a substantially rectangular upper plate portion 70a, a side plate portion 70b having a substantially triangular shape extending downward from both end edges of the upper plate portion 70a, and an abbreviation of the upper plate portion 70a. The central portion is formed by an opening 70c that is opened slightly larger than the cross section of the exhaust passage portion 63c, and the connecting portion between the upper plate portion 70a and the side plate portion 70b is provided with an angle R so as to be curved. Has been.
As shown in FIG. 3, the inner wall plate 70 is formed so that the upper plate portion 70a and the side plate portion 70b cover these inner wall surfaces along the upper inner wall surface and the inner wall surface of the transport passage portion 63a, that is, In addition, it is arranged inside the transport passage portion 63a so as to be positioned in the upper region of the glass substrate W placed on the belt conveyor 50.
As the material of the inner wall plate 70, a heat-resistant material such as a stainless material can be used, and preferably a SUS310S material having a plate thickness of about 1.0 mm and a small thermal expansion coefficient can be used.
[0019]
As shown in FIG. 4, the second inner wall plate 71 includes a substantially rectangular side plate portion 71a, a locking plate portion 71b extending in the horizontal direction from the upper end of the side plate portion 71a, and a horizontal direction from the lower end of the side plate portion 71a. A pair of support plate portions 71c extending substantially obliquely upward is provided, and a pair is set for each exhaust passage portion 63c.
As shown in FIG. 5, the second inner wall plate 71 has the support plate portion 71c positioned in the transport passage portion 63a and the side plate portion 71a along the main inner wall surface of the exhaust passage portion 63c. It arrange | positions so that a wall surface may be covered. And it fixes to the inside of the exhaust_gas | exhaustion channel | path part 63c in the state which latched the latching plate part 71b to the flange part 63c 'of the exhaust_gas | exhaustion channel part 63c. Thus, since the 2nd inner wall board 71 is fixed by making the latching board part 71b latch to flange part 63c ', the attachment or detachment work can be performed easily.
As the material of the second inner wall plate 71, a heat-resistant material such as a stainless material can be used, and preferably a SUS310S material having a plate thickness of about 0.5 mm and a small thermal expansion coefficient can be used. .
[0020]
When the inner wall plate 70 is attached, the second inner wall plate 71 is inserted from the exhaust passage portion 63c with the inner wall plate 70 inserted into the transfer passage portion 63a, and as shown in FIG. The support plate portion 71c passes through the opening portion 70c of the inner wall plate 70, supports the edge region of the opening portion 70c from below, and is attached so as to be sandwiched between the upper inner wall surface of the transfer passage portion 63a. Thus, since the inner wall plate 70 is fixed in a state of being suspended by the support plate portion 71c of the second inner wall plate 71, it can be easily attached and detached, and its mounting jig or the like can be used. Since it is unnecessary, the structure can be simplified.
[0021]
In the film forming furnace 60 provided with the inner wall plate 70 and the second inner wall plate 71 as described above, in a region where the exhaust passage is connected, i.e., a region where film adhesion is likely to occur, an effective component in a gas phase state that can be a film, It adheres to the surfaces of these inner wall plate 70 and second inner wall plate 71. Accordingly, when cleaning the film forming furnace 60, the inner wall plate 70 and the second inner wall plate 71 are removed and cleaned or replaced with a new inner wall plate and a second inner wall plate. Can be removed. Thereby, the cleaning operation can be simplified and the cleaning time can be shortened.
[0022]
In the above embodiment, the inner wall plate to which the film is attached in the film forming furnace is provided in the exhaust passage connection region where adhesion is likely to occur. However, the present invention is not limited to this region, and can be arranged in other regions. is there. In other words, the film removal operation can be performed efficiently by providing the film forming apparatus 40 in a region where the film is likely to adhere.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the inner wall plate is provided in the film forming apparatus that continuously forms the film is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the single-wafer type film forming apparatus that processes one glass substrate at a time. For example, the inner wall plate according to the present invention can be applied.
[0023]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the film forming apparatus of the present invention, the removable inner wall plate is provided on the inner wall surface of the film forming furnace for generating a film on the surface of the substrate by the chemical vapor deposition method. As a result, in the film forming furnace, the effective component in the vapor phase that can be a film adheres to the surface of the inner wall plate. Therefore, when performing the cleaning operation in the film forming furnace, the attached film can be easily removed simply by removing the inner wall plate and cleaning or replacing it with a new inner wall plate. The cleaning time can be shortened, and a film-formed glass substrate free from defects such as pinholes can be stably produced at a high yield. Thereby, productivity can be improved.
Further, by disposing the inner wall plate in the connection region of the exhaust passage where the film easily adheres, the work of removing the adhered film can be performed efficiently.
[0024]
Further, a second inner wall plate is detachably disposed on at least a part of the inner wall surface of the exhaust passage, and the inner wall plate is suspended by the second inner wall plate and fixed to the inner wall surface of the film forming furnace. By doing so, the inner wall plate disposed in the film forming furnace can be removed by removing the second inner wall plate. Thereby, the dismantling operation can be easily performed, and the cleaning operation can be facilitated and the cleaning time can be shortened.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a film forming furnace for generating a SiO ₂ film or an ITO film in a film forming apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an inner wall plate provided in a film forming furnace.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the inner wall plate shown in FIG. 2 is disposed inside the film forming furnace.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a second inner wall plate provided in the exhaust passage portion of the film forming furnace.
5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the second inner wall plate shown in FIG. 4 and the inner wall plate shown in FIG. 2 are assembled.
[Explanation of symbols]
40: Film forming apparatus 50 ... Belt conveyor (conveying means)
60 ... first film forming furnace 61 ... raw material supply passage 62 ... exhaust passage 63 ... muffle body 63a ... conveyance passage portion 63b ... chamber portion 63c ... exhaust passage portion (exhaust passage) aisle)
70 ... Inner wall plate 70a ... Upper plate portion 70b ... Side plate portion 70c ... Opening portion 71 ... Second inner wall plate 71a ... Side plate portion 71b ... Locking plate portion 71c・ Support plate

Claims (3)

A film forming apparatus for supplying a film raw material into a film forming furnace for defining a space for accommodating a substrate and generating a film on the surface of the substrate by a chemical vapor deposition method,
The film forming furnace is connected to a raw material supply passage for supplying a raw material for the film and an exhaust passage for exhausting the inside of the film forming furnace so as to protrude above the film forming furnace.
A second inner wall plate that is detachably attached to at least a partial region of the inner wall surface of the exhaust passage, and is suspended by the second inner wall plate so as to be detachable from the inner wall surface of the film forming furnace. A film forming apparatus having an inner wall plate fixed. In a film forming furnace that has a transport unit that transports the substrate continuously in a predetermined direction, and is formed so as to define a space that covers a part of the transport unit and the substrate placed on the transport unit. A film forming apparatus for supplying a film raw material and generating a film on a surface of a substrate by a chemical vapor deposition method,
The film forming furnace is connected to a raw material supply passage for supplying a raw material for the film, and an exhaust passage for exhausting the inside of the film forming furnace so as to protrude upward from the upper wall surface of the transfer means.
A second inner wall plate that is detachably attached to at least a partial region of the inner wall surface of the exhaust passage, and is suspended by the second inner wall plate so as to be detachable from the inner wall surface of the film forming furnace. A film forming apparatus having an inner wall plate fixed.   The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inner wall plate is disposed at least in a region to which the exhaust passage is connected.

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