JP5235223B2 - Method for forming sputtered thin film on substrate and carrier - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for forming a sputtered thin film on a substrate, which is applied to a step of forming a sputtered thin film on a glass substrate when manufacturing a flat panel display (FPD), and a carrier for carrying out the method. .

  Conventionally known methods for forming a thin film on a substrate and transport carriers include those described in Patent Document 1, for example. In Patent Document 1, a rectangular frame body, and an inner peripheral portion and an inner peripheral portion facing each other of the frame body, both ends thereof are connected to each inner peripheral portion of the frame body via an elastic member, thereby providing tension. A method of forming a vapor deposition film such as an MgO film on a glass substrate using a transport carrier composed of a thin member erected with an additional is described (for example, see FIG. 2).

The method described in Patent Document 1 can be temporarily evaluated as a method for forming a vapor deposition film on a substrate. However, since this method is based on the vapor deposition method, it is not necessary to consider the electrical action on the transport carrier. Therefore, the configuration of the transport carrier described here takes into account any electrical action. It was n’t. Therefore, when the carrier described in Patent Document 1 is applied to a method based on a sputtering method for forming a thin film in a plasma atmosphere in a vacuum state, abnormal discharge and the like cannot be stably formed. There's a problem. Moreover, even when the method described in Patent Document 1 is evaluated based on the vapor deposition method, it has the following problems. That is, in the method described in Patent Document 1, as described in paragraph 0012 of the detailed description of the invention, a glass substrate is placed on a window frame-shaped substrate receiver provided on the inner periphery of a rectangular frame. To keep it. Therefore, for example, when a vapor deposition film is formed by heating a large glass substrate, the frame itself must be heated, so that the energy consumption is enormous and the frame is subject to thermal distortion. Had. In addition, there is a problem that mechanical stress generated in the initial stage cannot be relaxed by setting the glass substrate on the carrier. Furthermore, if thermal stress exceeding the allowable range occurs on the glass substrate, it cannot be alleviated, and the substrate holder cannot sufficiently absorb the bending due to the high heat of the glass substrate, so it should be ignored by heat spread. There is a problem that mechanical stress that cannot be generated occurs. As a result, there has been a problem that the glass substrate may be cracked by a thermal load. Such a problem similarly becomes a problem when the substrate is heated to form a sputtered thin film.
JP 2000-199046 A

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for forming a sputtered thin film on a substrate and a method thereof that can stably prepare a plurality of panels from a single glass substrate without causing abnormal discharge or the like with a simple configuration. An object of the present invention is to provide a carrier for carrying out the above.

  As a result of various investigations in view of the above points, the present inventors have determined that a carrier used for forming a sputtered thin film on a glass substrate is a rectangular frame and opposing frame sides of the frame. Consists of a thin member that is installed with tension applied by connecting both ends of the frame body to each frame side of the frame body via an elastic member while being insulated from the frame body. And a function as a holding member for forming a state in which the glass substrate is placed on the carrier, and / or two or more sputtered thin film formation regions in the glass substrate. It has been found that the above object can be achieved by providing a function as a mask member for defining.

The method for forming a sputtered thin film on a substrate according to the present invention based on the above knowledge is characterized in that, as described in claim 1, a rectangular substrate is maintained at an arbitrary angle from horizontal to vertical, and a processing chamber of a sputtering apparatus. transported in a transport carrier which is used to form a sputtered film on the substrate, a rectangular frame, between opposite frame sides with the frame side of the frame, each of both ends of the frame A thin member formed by connecting a frame side and an elastic member to add a tension, and the thin member has a thickness of 0.1 mm to 0.8 mm, and the thin member The thermal expansion coefficient is ± 20% of the thermal expansion coefficient of the glass substrate serving as the substrate, and the thin member is parallel to the other frame side between the one frame side and the frame side. One or more, one parallel to one frame side between the other opposing frame sides Moreover, bridged while insulation between the frame body and constituting a mounting surface of said substrate only in a thin body member so as not to the frame body and said substrate are in contact, and, the The outer peripheral edge of the substrate is masked by the thin member, and the function as a holding member for forming the state in which the substrate is placed on the carrier in each thin member, and the substrate A function as a mask member for defining two or more sputtered thin film formation regions is formed, and a sputtered thin film is formed on the substrate.
Further, according to a second aspect of the present invention, the carrier according to the present invention maintains the rectangular substrate at an arbitrary angle from horizontal to vertical and transports it to the processing chamber of the sputtering apparatus to form a sputtered thin film on the substrate. a conveying carrier to be used for a rectangular frame, between opposite frame sides with the frame side of the frame, connecting the two ends through the respective frame sides and the elastic member of the frame A thin member formed by applying tension to the thin member, the thin member has a thickness of 0.1 mm to 0.8 mm, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the thin member is glass serving as the substrate. One or more of the thin members in parallel to the other frame side between one opposing frame side and the other opposing frame side, so as to be ± 20% of the thermal expansion coefficient of the substrate a frame side parallel to one or more in one frame sides during, shaped insulated between the frame In Erection and the so as not to the frame body and said substrate are in contact constitutes a mounting surface of the substrate only in a thin body member, and the mask by the thin body member outer peripheral edge of said substrate In each thin member, a function as a holding member for forming a state in which the substrate is placed on a transport carrier, and two or more sputtered thin film formation regions in the substrate are defined. It is characterized by having a function as a mask member for this purpose.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to stably prepare a plurality of panels from a single glass substrate with a simple configuration without causing abnormal discharge or the like, and a method for forming a sputtered thin film on a substrate, A carrier for carrying out the method is provided.

  Hereinafter, a method for forming a sputtered thin film on a substrate of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, taking as an example the case of forming an ITO sputtered thin film on a glass substrate when manufacturing an FPD.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an embodiment of a carrier for carrying out the method for forming a sputtered thin film on a substrate of the present invention. The transport carrier A shown in FIG. 1 includes a rectangular frame 1 made of stainless steel, titanium, or the like, and between the opposite frame sides of the frame 1, and both ends of each frame side of the frame 1. The thin member 2 is constructed with a tension applied by connecting via a spring 3 as an elastic member. The thin member 2 has three horizontal sides opposite to each other in the horizontal direction in FIG. 1 in parallel to the vertical frame sides and a horizontal direction between the vertical side frames and the frame sides. Four of them are installed in parallel with the frame side in an insulated state from the frame body 1 (that is, in an electrically floating state with respect to the frame body 1). Insulation between the frame 1 and the thin plate member 2 is achieved by fixing the insulating plate 4 made of polyimide resin to the frame 1 with bolts 5 via an insulating bush made of polyimide resin, not shown. This is ensured by fixing the spring 3 to the insulating plate 4 fixed to the frame body 1 (of course, the method of ensuring insulation is not limited to this method).

  FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing a state where the glass substrate X is placed on the transport carrier A shown in FIG. In this embodiment, each thin member 2 functions as a holding member for forming a state in which the glass substrate X is placed on the carrier A, and six sputtered thin film formation regions in the glass substrate X are used. It is made to function as a mask member for demarcating (the Y portion shown by oblique lines). Thereby, it is possible to stably prepare six panels from one glass substrate without causing abnormal discharge or the like. Further, even when the ITO sputtered thin film is formed in each sputtered thin film forming region by heating the glass substrate, it is not necessary to heat the frame, so that energy saving can be achieved. In addition, the thermal distortion of the frame can be suppressed. Moreover, the thin-shaped member which added tension to both ends relieves the mechanical stress which generate | occur | produces initially by setting a glass substrate to a conveyance carrier. Further, since the heat capacity is small due to the thin body shape, the temperature difference with the glass substrate is reduced, so that the thermal stress generated in the glass substrate is reduced and the thermal stress generated in the glass substrate is reduced. Furthermore, the mechanical stress due to heat spread is alleviated by evenly absorbing the bending of the glass substrate due to high heat. Therefore, as in the method described in Patent Document 1, in addition to an aspect in which the glass substrate is placed on a window frame-shaped substrate receiver provided on the inner peripheral portion of the frame, the thin member is a holding member for the glass substrate. Even if it is made to function as an aspect which fixes both ends of each frame side and the elastic member without using an elastic member, or by connecting only one end portion through the elastic frame and the frame side of the frame. It is possible to suppress the breakage of the glass substrate due to a thermal load that may occur in an embodiment in which tension is applied and the other end is fixed without interposing the frame side of the frame without an elastic member.

  The thermal expansion coefficient of the thin member is set to ± 20% of the thermal expansion coefficient of the glass substrate. Thereby, when heating a glass substrate and forming an ITO sputtered thin film, the thermal stress and mechanical stress which generate | occur | produce in a glass substrate can be relieve | moderated more effectively. Therefore, the crack of the glass substrate by a heat load, etc. can be suppressed more effectively. For example, when borosilicate glass is used as the glass substrate, the thin member is preferably made of a nickel-iron alloy whose thermal expansion coefficient approximates that of borosilicate glass.

  The thickness of the thin member is 0.1 mm to 0.8 mm. If the thickness is less than 0.1 mm, the function as a glass substrate holding member may not be sufficient. On the other hand, if the thickness exceeds 0.8 mm, a gap is generated around the intersection of the thin member and the thin member. If the ITO component wraps around the mask portion (so-called “film sagging phenomenon”), there is a possibility that an accurate ITO sputtered thin film cannot be formed on the sputtered thin film forming region of the glass substrate.

  The sputtering apparatus used for carrying out the method for forming a sputtered thin film on the substrate of the present invention is omitted from the description with reference to the drawings, but may be known per se, and any angle from horizontal to vertical by the carrier A An ITO sputtered thin film can be formed by adhering the ITO component generated by the target being subjected to ion bombardment in a vacuum plasma atmosphere on the glass substrate X that has been transported to the processing chamber while being maintained at Any device having a structure that can be used may be used.

  The transport carrier A shown in FIG. 1 is for preparing six panels from one glass substrate X by forming ITO sputtered thin films in the six sputtered thin film forming regions Y of the glass substrate X. However, if the thin member 2 is made detachable from the frame 1 together with the spring 3, and an arbitrary number of these members can be installed at arbitrary positions on the frame side of the frame 1, the glass substrate is obtained. An ITO sputtered thin film can be formed by demarcating two or more arbitrary numbers and arbitrary sizes of sputtered thin film forming regions Y in X, so that any number of two or more arbitrary numbers from one glass substrate X and Panels of any size can be prepared. Further, a plurality of glass substrates may be placed on the transport carrier A shown in FIG. In addition, a substrate receiver and a substrate presser may be provided on the inner peripheral portion of the frame body 1 while being insulated from the frame body 1.

  The present invention provides a method for forming a sputtered thin film on a substrate and a method thereof that enable a plurality of panels to be stably prepared from a single glass substrate without causing abnormal discharge or the like with a simple configuration. It has industrial applicability in that it can provide a carrier for carrying out.

It is a schematic plan view of one Embodiment of the conveyance carrier for enforcing the formation method of the sputtered thin film to the board | substrate of this invention. It is a schematic plan view which shows the state which mounted the glass substrate X on the conveyance carrier A shown in FIG.

A Transport carrier 1 Frame 2 Thin member 3 Spring 4 Insulating plate 5 Bolt X Glass substrate Y Sputtered thin film formation area

Claims (2)

While maintaining the square shape of the substrate at any angle from horizontal to vertical and transported to the processing chamber of a sputtering apparatus, a conveying carrier used to form a sputtered film on the substrate, a rectangular frame, wherein between the frame side and the frame side opposite the frame body, and constitute a two ends and a thin body member which is bridged by adding tension by connecting through the frames edges and the elastic member of the frame body, The thickness of the thin member is 0.1 mm to 0.8 mm, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the thin member is set to be ± 20% of the thermal expansion coefficient of the glass substrate serving as the substrate. member, one of the opposed frame sides and the frame side parallel to one or more the other frame sides between the other opposing frame sides and the frame side parallel to one or more in one frame sides during the Installed in an insulated state from the frame body, so that the frame body and the substrate do not touch each other. Constitute mounting surface of the substrate only in a thin body member, and, masked by the thin body member outer peripheral edge of the substrate, the individual said thin body member, placing the substrate in the conveying carrier A sputtered thin film is formed on the substrate by having a function as a holding member for forming the applied state and a function as a mask member for defining two or more sputtered thin film forming regions in the substrate. A method for forming a sputtered thin film on a substrate. A transport carrier used to form a sputtered thin film on the substrate by transporting it to a processing chamber of a sputtering apparatus while maintaining a rectangular substrate at an arbitrary angle from horizontal to vertical, and a rectangular frame and , composed between the opposing frame sides and the frame side of the frame, a thin body member which is bridged by adding tension by the ends linked via the respective frame sides and the elastic member of the frame The thickness of the thin member is 0.1 mm to 0.8 mm, the thermal expansion coefficient of the thin member is ± 20% of the thermal expansion coefficient of the glass substrate that is the substrate, and the thin member One or more body members between one opposite frame side and the frame side in parallel with the other frame side, and one or more body members between the other opposite frame side and the frame side in parallel with one frame side has never bridged while insulated, the frame body and said substrate are in contact between said frame Uni the Configure mounting surface of the substrate only in a thin body member, and masks the outer periphery of the substrate by the thin body member, the individual said thin body member, said substrate transport carrier A function as a holding member for forming a mounted state, and a function as a mask member for defining two or more sputtered thin film formation regions in the substrate, To carry carrier.

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