JP6753425B2 - Target feeder and surface treatment equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a target supply device and a surface treatment facility.

Electrical steel sheets are soft magnetic materials used as core materials for transformers, generators, and the like. The grain-oriented electrical steel sheet is characterized by having a crystal structure in which the <001> orientation, which is the axis for easily magnetizing iron, is highly aligned in the rolling direction of the steel sheet. Such an texture is formed through finish annealing in which crystal grains in the {110} <001> orientation, which are so-called Goss orientations, are preferentially grown in a large size in the manufacturing process of grain-oriented electrical steel sheets. As the magnetic characteristics of the product of grain-oriented electrical steel sheet, it is required that the magnetic flux density is high and the iron loss is low.

The magnetic properties of grain-oriented electrical steel sheets are improved by applying tensile stress (tension) to the surface of the steel sheets. As a conventional technique for applying tensile stress to a steel sheet, a technique of forming a forsterite film having a thickness of about 2 μm on the surface of the steel sheet and then forming a film mainly composed of silicate phosphate having a thickness of about 2 μm is used. It is common.
That is, a silicate coating having a lower coefficient of thermal expansion than that of a steel sheet is formed at a high temperature, the temperature is lowered to room temperature, and the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion between the steel sheet and the silicate coating causes tensile stress on the steel sheet. Is applied.
This silicate phosphate coating also functions as an essential insulating coating for grain-oriented electrical steel sheets. That is, insulation prevents the generation of local eddy currents in the steel sheet.

The iron loss can be significantly reduced by smoothing the surface of the grain-oriented electrical steel sheet after finish annealing by chemical polishing or electrolytic polishing, and then applying tensile stress by the coating film on the steel sheet.
However, the forsterite film between the steel sheet and the silicate coating adheres to the steel sheet due to the anchor effect. Therefore, the smoothness of the steel sheet surface inevitably deteriorates. In addition, the adhesion between the silicate and the metal is low, and the silicate film cannot be directly formed on the steel sheet whose surface is mirror-surfaced. As described above, in the conventional film structure of grain-oriented electrical steel sheet (steel sheet / forsterite coating / silicate coating), the surface of the steel sheet cannot be smoothed.

Therefore, in Patent Document 1, in order to maintain the smoothness of the surface of the steel sheet and further apply a large tensile stress to the steel sheet, a ceramic film made of TiN or the like is formed on the steel sheet by using the CVD method or the PVD method. The technique of filming is disclosed. Patent Document 2 discloses equipment for forming a film by using an ion plating method, which is one of the PVD methods.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 01-176034 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-040368

In Patent Document 2, a film is formed on each side of the material to be filmed that is conveyed in the chamber. When the film is formed on only one side, the material to be filmed is warped, and the film may be non-uniform due to the influence of the warp or the like.
Therefore, in the case of continuously forming a film on the material to be filmed, a technique of simultaneously forming a film from both sides of the material to be filmed is very important from the viewpoint of stabilizing the quality of the product.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the present inventors examined an aspect in which the target used in the PVD method is arranged on both sides of the material to be filmed to be conveyed in the chamber.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a mode in which the target T is fixed on both side surfaces of the film-forming material S. In FIG. 1, a film-forming material S such as a metal band is conveyed inside a chamber (not shown) from the right side to the left side in FIG. The chamber is incorporated as part of equipment such as surface treatment equipment.
Inside the chamber, an upper surface side member C1 arranged on the upper surface side of the film-forming material S to be transported and a lower surface-side member C2 arranged on the lower surface side of the film-forming material S to be transported are fixed. It is provided in. A plurality of targets T are embedded and held in the upper surface side member C1 and the lower surface side member C2 along the direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the film-forming material S (the width direction of the film-forming material S). .. In this way, the target T is fixed to both sides of the material S to be filmed to be conveyed.
According to the aspect shown in FIG. 1, both sides of the material S to be filmed can be simultaneously filmed, and a uniform film can be obtained.

However, in order to form a film using the PVD method, a magnet for plasma induction (not shown) is installed on the back side of the target T (the side opposite to the material S to be deposited), so that the target T is huge. Metal ingots cannot be used, and a relatively small target T is used. Therefore, the target T is consumed quickly, and it is necessary to frequently perform maintenance such as replacement of the target T.
Further, the target T is used under the condition that the inside of the chamber is depressurized (including vacuum) and heated to a high temperature. Therefore, every time the target T is maintained, it is necessary to stop the operation of the surface treatment equipment to open or cool the inside of the chamber. Then, the operating rate of the surface treatment equipment is lowered, and the productivity is inferior.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a target supply device capable of easily maintaining a target used in the PVD method and a surface treatment facility using the target supply device.

As a result of diligent studies, the present inventors have found that the above object can be achieved by adopting the following configuration, and have completed the present invention.

That is, the present invention provides the following [1] to [8].
[1] A target supply device that supplies a target used in the PVD method to the inside of a chamber, and rotatably supports a target holding portion that holds the target and two or more target holding portions, and one unit. A target supply device including a rotation mechanism for locating another target holding portion outside the chamber when the target holding portion is located inside the chamber.
[2] The target supply device according to the above [1], wherein the rotation mechanism includes a rotation base having two or more target holding portions and a shaft for rotatably supporting the rotation base.
[3] The target supply device according to the above [2], wherein the rotating substrate has four target holding portions.
[4] A chamber for continuously surface-treating the material to be deposited by the PVD method using a target, a target holding portion for holding the target, and holding two or more targets. A surface treatment facility comprising a rotation mechanism that rotatably supports a portion and positions another target holding portion outside the chamber when one target holding portion is located inside the chamber.
[5] The surface treatment facility according to the above [4], wherein the rotation mechanism includes a rotation base having two or more target holding portions and a shaft for rotatably supporting the rotation base.
[6] The surface treatment facility according to [5] above, wherein the rotating substrate has four target holding portions.
[7] The surface treatment facility according to any one of [4] to [6] above, wherein the film-deposited material is a metal band.
[8] The surface treatment facility according to any one of [4] to [7] above, wherein the film-deposited material is a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet having no forsterite film.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a target supply device capable of easily maintaining a target used in the PVD method and a surface treatment facility using the target supply device.

It is a perspective view which shows the aspect which fixed the target on both sides of the film-deposited material. It is a schematic diagram which shows the target supply device together with a chamber. It is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows schematicly about the surface treatment equipment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the mode which used the target supply device in the pretreatment chamber. It is a graph which shows the time change of the film thickness of Example 1. It is a graph which shows the time change of the film thickness of the comparative example 1.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments. First, an embodiment of the target supply device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

[Target supply device]
FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the target supply device 101 together with the chamber 201. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

The film-forming material S is conveyed inside the chamber 201 from the right side to the left side in FIGS. 2 and 3. Inside the chamber 201, a film is formed on the material S to be deposited by using the target T by the PVD method. At the time of film formation, the target T is subjected to sputtering or arc discharge inside the chamber 201. The target supply device 101 is a device that supplies the target T to the inside of the chamber 201.

The target supply device 101 of the present embodiment is mainly composed of a ring-shaped rotating base 111. The rotating substrate 111 is arranged on the lower surface side of the film-deposited material S to be conveyed.
The rotating base 111 has a target holding portion 121 that holds the target T. The target holding portion 121 of the present embodiment is a plate-shaped member constituting the rotating base 111.
In the rotating base 111 of the present embodiment, four target holding portions 121 are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. The number of target holding portions 121 may be two or more, and the number is not limited to four. The number of target holding portions 121 will be described later.

The target holding unit 121 holds three targets T. For example, the target T is held by the target holding portion 121 by attaching the target T to one surface side of the plate-shaped target holding portion 121. The number of targets T for each target holding unit 121 is not limited to three.
The shape of the target T is not particularly specified, but a round shape is preferable from the viewpoint of freedom of handling and efficiency of use of raw materials.

The rotating base 111 has a base 131 between the target holding portions 121. Like the target holding portion 121, the base portion 131 is a plate-shaped member constituting the rotating base 111. In the rotating base 111 of the present embodiment, four bases 131 are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. The number of base portions 131 is preferably the same as the number of target holding portions 121.

A shaft 151 is provided at the center of the rotating base 111. The shaft 151 is held, for example, by a shaft holding member (not shown) fixed to the outer surface of the chamber 201.
The rotating base 111 is rotatably supported with the shaft 151 as a fulcrum. At this time, the rotating base 111 and the shaft 151 are fixed, and the shaft 151 may be rotatable with respect to the shaft holding member, or the shaft 151 is fixed to the shaft holding member and rotates with respect to the shaft 151. The substrate 111 may be rotatable.

In the main body 202 of the chamber 201, a gap 203 penetrating the inside and the outside of the chamber 201 is formed in parallel with the rotating base 111. The gap 203 has a shape that allows the rotating base 111 to pass through.
As the rotating base 111 rotates about the shaft 151, the target holding portion 121 enters the inside of the chamber 201 and exits the chamber 201.

In this way, when one target holding portion 121 (target holding portion 121c) is located inside the chamber 201 by the rotating base 111, the shaft 151, or the like, another target holding portion 121 (target holding portion 121a) is used in the chamber 201. A rotation mechanism that is positioned outside the is realized.

In such a configuration, first, the target T is attached to the target holding portion 121a at the position P1 outside the chamber 201 (in the atmosphere). At this time, the target T of the target holding portion 121c at the position P3 inside the chamber 201 is used for film formation on the film-deposited material S. The space including the position P3 inside the chamber 201 is exhausted by an exhaust port (not shown), and the target T at the position P3 is heated by a heater (not shown).

Further, at this time, the gap 203 of the chamber 201 is closed by the base 131 (base 131a and base 131d). As a result, it is suppressed that air flows into the inside of the chamber 201 from the gap 203, and that the inflow of the air makes it difficult to exhaust the inside of the chamber 201.
Therefore, in the rotating base 111, the base 131 is provided at a position sandwiched between the gaps 203 when the pair of target holding portions 121 facing each other are at the positions P1 and P3. The shape (thickness, etc.) of the rotating base 111 including the base 131 is such that the gap 203 is filled without gaps to the extent that it is possible to suppress difficulty in exhausting the inside of the chamber 201.

The rotating base 111 is rotated clockwise by 90 degrees at a timing that requires maintenance such as replacement of the target T. By this rotation, the target holding portion 121b at the position P2 moves to the position P3, and the target T of the target holding portion 121b begins to be used for film formation. At this time, the target holding portion 121a moves to the position P2, and the base portion 131d and the base portion 131c are sandwiched in the gap 203.
Inside the chamber 201, the space including the position P2 is separated from the space including the position P3 by the boundary wall 204. Similar to the position P3, the space including the position P2 is also exhausted from an exhaust port (not shown) and heated by a heater (not shown).
However, since the position P2 is the position before the film formation, the exhaust amount and the heating amount may be weaker than the position P3.

Next, at the timing when maintenance such as replacement of the target T is required, the rotating base 111 is further rotated clockwise by 90 degrees. By this rotation, the target holding portion 121a at the position P2 moves to the position P3, and the target T of the target holding portion 121a begins to be used for film formation. At this time, the base 131c and the base 131b close the gap 203.

After that, the rotating base 111 is further rotated clockwise by 90 degrees. By this rotation, the target holding portion 121a at the position P3 moves to the position P4, and the base portion 131b and the base portion 131a are sandwiched in the gap 203.
The space including the position P4 is separated from the space including the position P3 by the boundary wall 205. The space including the position P4 is not exhausted and is under atmospheric pressure conditions, and is not heated, and the target T at the position P4 is cooled.

Then, the rotating base 111 is further rotated clockwise by 90 degrees. By this rotation, the target holding portion 121a at the position P4 returns to the position P1, and the base 131a and the base 131d close the gap 203. Maintenance such as replacement of the target T is performed on the target holding portion 121a that has returned to the position P1.
In this way, the target T can be easily maintained without stopping the operation.

In order to obtain the above effect, at least two target holding portions 121 are required. That is, a target holding portion 121 (position P3) used for film formation and a target holding portion 121 (position P1) to be maintained are required.

If there are four target holding portions 121 as in the present embodiment, the exhaust and heating can be performed in advance at the position P2 before the film formation at the position P3. Further, prior cooling can be performed at position P4 prior to maintenance at position P1. As a result, the target T can be supplied and replaced more smoothly.

The upper limit of the number of target holding portions 121 is not particularly limited, but is preferably 30 or less. Within this range, a sufficient maintenance work range is secured and workability is good.

[Surface treatment equipment]
Next, an embodiment of the surface treatment facility of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

<Overview>
FIG. 4 is a schematic view schematically showing the surface treatment equipment 1. The surface treatment facility 1 has a payoff reel 19. The payoff reel 19 is hung with a coil 11 in front of the plate of the film-forming material S. The film-forming material S drawn out from the payoff reel 19 is passed through each part of the surface treatment equipment 1 and rewound by the take-up reel 20 to become a coil 18 after passing through the plate.

The composition and material of the film-forming material S are not particularly limited, and examples of the film-forming material S include metal bands, films, and semiconductors.
In the present embodiment, the case where the film-deposited material S is a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet after finish annealing, which is a kind of metal strip, will be described as an example. That is, the payoff reel 19 is hung with the pre-threading coil 11 of the grain-oriented electrical steel sheet S (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “steel sheet S”) after finish annealing.

The grain-oriented electrical steel sheet that has undergone finish annealing usually has a forsterite coating.
In the following, the grain-oriented electrical steel sheet S after finish annealing, which is wound as the coil 11 before passing through the plate, will be described as having a forsterite coating, but it does not have an oxide coating such as a forsterite coating. May be good.
In the latter case, the polishing equipment 13 described later can be omitted, so that the cost can be reduced. Also in the former case, in order to reduce the amount of polishing in the polishing facility 13 and reduce the cost, it is preferable that the oxide film such as the forsterite film is extremely thin.

In the surface treatment equipment 1, the inlet looper 12, the polishing equipment 13, the washing equipment 14, the drying equipment 15, the inlet decompression equipment 21, the pretreatment equipment 31, the film forming equipment 41, and the outlet decompression equipment are arranged in the order of the conveying direction of the steel plate S. It has 51, an exit looper 16, and a shear 17.
The entry-side decompression facility 21 has a plurality of stages of entry-side decompression chambers 22. The pretreatment facility 31 has a pretreatment chamber 32. The film forming equipment 41 has a film forming chamber 42. The outlet decompression facility 51 has a plurality of stages of outlet decompression chambers 52.
Except for the inside of the inlet decompression chamber 22, the pretreatment chamber 32, the film forming chamber 42, and the outlet decompression chamber 52, the steel sheet S is conveyed in the atmospheric pressure atmosphere.

The steel plate S having the forsterite coating drawn from the coil 11 before passing through the plate passes through the inlet looper 12 and is introduced into the polishing facility 13.
The polishing facility 13 polishes the surface of the introduced steel sheet S. The forsterite coating is removed by this polishing, and the steel sheet S becomes a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet having no forsterite coating.
The polishing in the polishing facility 13 is not particularly limited, and any of mechanical polishing, electrolytic polishing and chemical polishing may be used, and polishing may be a combination of two or more of these polishings, but a machine such as grinding may be used. It is preferable to apply polishing first. By doing so, in electrolytic polishing and chemical polishing, the oxide film having a slower polishing rate than the base iron of the steel sheet S can be easily removed, and the final surface roughness can be reduced. The surface roughness of the steel sheet S after polishing is preferably 0.4 μm or less in arithmetic average roughness Ra.

During polishing with the polishing facility 13, polishing debris is generated from the steel plate S. The water washing facility 14 and the drying facility 15 remove the polishing debris generated from the steel sheet S by washing the steel sheet S with water and then drying it. Conventionally known techniques are used for washing with water and drying.

The steel sheet S (oriented electrical steel sheet having no forsterite coating) from which polishing debris has been removed is introduced into the inlet decompression chamber 22 of the inlet decompression facility 21. The internal pressure of the multi-stage inlet decompression chamber 22 gradually decreases as it approaches the pretreatment chamber 32 and the film forming chamber 42. In this way, the pressure applied to the steel sheet S approaches the internal pressures of the pretreatment chamber 32 and the film forming chamber 42 from the atmospheric pressure.
By changing the internal pressure stepwise, meandering of the steel sheet S due to the pressure difference can be suppressed. The number of stages of the inlet decompression chamber 22 is preferably 3 or more.

The steel sheet S (oriented electrical steel sheet having no forsterite coating) that has passed through the inlet decompression chamber 22 is introduced into the pretreatment chamber 32 of the pretreatment facility 31 and pretreated under decompression conditions on the surface. Adhering impurities are removed.
The pretreated steel sheet S (oriented electrical steel sheet having no forsterite film) is introduced into the film forming chamber 42 of the film forming facility 41. A film is formed on the surface of the steel plate S through which the film forming chamber 42 is passed under reduced pressure conditions.

The steel plate S after the film formation is introduced into the outlet decompression chamber 52 of the outlet decompression facility 51. The internal pressure of the multi-stage exit side decompression chamber 52 increases stepwise as it separates from the film forming chamber 42. In this way, the pressure applied to the steel sheet S is returned to atmospheric pressure from the internal pressures of the pretreatment chamber 32 and the film forming chamber 42.
By changing the internal pressure stepwise, meandering of the steel sheet S due to the pressure difference can be suppressed. The number of stages of the output side decompression chamber 52 is preferably 3 or more.

The steel plate S that has exited the outlet decompression facility 51 is then introduced into the shear 17 through the exit looper 16. The shear 17 cuts off the end portion of the steel plate S and shapes it. The formed steel plate S is wound on a take-up reel 20 to become a coil 18 after passing through the plate.

Next, the pretreatment equipment 31 and the film forming equipment 41 will be described in more detail. The film forming equipment 41 will be described first.

<Film formation equipment (deposition chamber)>
It is formed on the surface of a steel sheet S (oriented electrical steel sheet having no forsterite film) passed through the inside of the film forming chamber 42 of the film forming facility 41 by the PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) method under reduced pressure conditions. The membrane is made.

For example, a raw material gas (atmospheric gas) for film formation such as nitrogen gas is introduced into the film forming chamber 42. The steel sheet S is heated, and a film such as a nitride film is formed on the surface of the steel sheet S.
As a means for heating the steel sheet S, since the inside of the film forming chamber 42 is exhausted and the pressure is reduced, a burner or the like cannot be used inevitably, but instead, for example, induction heating (IH) or electron beam irradiation. , Laser, infrared rays, and other means that do not require oxygen are not particularly limited, and are appropriately used.

The PVD method is preferably an ion plating method. The film formation temperature is preferably 300 to 600 ° C. for the convenience of production, and the internal pressure (internal pressure) of the film formation chamber 42 is preferably 0.1 to 100 Pa. At the time of film formation, it is preferable to apply a bias voltage of -10 to -100 V with the steel plate S as a cathode. By using plasma for ionizing the raw material, the film formation rate can be increased.

As the coating film formed on the steel plate S, a nitride coating is preferable, and a metal nitride coating is more preferable, and Zn, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Ti, Y, Nb, Mo, and Hf are preferable. A metal nitride coating containing at least one metal selected from the group consisting of, Zr, W and Ta is more preferred. Since these easily take a rock salt type structure and easily match with the body-centered cubic lattice of the base iron of the steel plate S, the adhesion of the coating film can be improved.
The film formed on the steel sheet S may be a film composed of a single layer or a film composed of a plurality of layers.

In the film forming chamber 42, the amount of gas generated by the reaction on the surface of the steel sheet S, the amount of raw material gas to be charged, and the like are dominant. On the other hand, if the exhaust gas is strengthened too much, the raw material gas may not sufficiently reach the steel plate S. In consideration of these matters, the air is exhausted so as to have a desired internal pressure (the same applies to the pretreatment chamber 32).
The exhaust port and the input port for the raw material gas included in the film forming chamber 42 are not shown (the same applies to the pretreatment chamber 32).

At the time of film formation, a target used as a raw material for the film is used.
In the present embodiment, the target supply device 101 described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 is used as the device for supplying the target to the inside of the film forming chamber 42 which is a chamber. The above-mentioned rotating base 111 is rotatably supported on the lower surface side and the upper surface side of the steel plate S conveyed inside the film forming chamber 42 with the shaft 151 as a fulcrum.
In the rotating base 111 on the lower surface side of the steel plate S, the target T (not shown in FIG. 4) is attached to the upper surface side of the target holding portion 121 (not shown in FIG. 4). On the other hand, in the rotating base 111 on the upper surface side of the steel plate S, the target T is attached to the lower surface side of the target holding portion 121. In this way, the film can be formed simultaneously from both sides of the steel sheet S.
Then, by rotating the rotating base 111 at an appropriate timing, maintenance such as replacement of the target T can be easily performed without stopping the operation of the surface treatment facility 1, and another target T is formed. It can be supplied to the inside of the membrane chamber 42.

<Pretreatment equipment (pretreatment room)>
Next, the pretreatment equipment 31 (pretreatment chamber 32) arranged on the upstream side of the film formation equipment 41 (deposition chamber 42) will be described.
The steel sheet S that has passed through the inlet decompression chamber 22 is introduced into the pretreatment chamber 32 of the pretreatment facility 31, and is subjected to pretreatment to remove impurities such as oxides adhering to the surface of the steel sheet S under decompression conditions. To.
By pretreating before the film formation, the adhesion of the film (for example, the nitride film) formed in the film forming facility 41 to the steel sheet S is remarkably improved. Therefore, the pretreatment facility 31 is not essential, but is preferably provided.
Ion sputtering is preferable as the pretreatment method. In the case of ion sputtering, it is preferable to use an inert gas ion such as argon and nitrogen or a metal ion such as Ti and Cr as the ion species to be used.
The inside of the pretreatment chamber 32 is depressurized, and the internal pressure of the pretreatment chamber 32 is preferably 0.0001 to 1 Pa in order to increase the mean free path of sputtering ions.
It is preferable to apply a bias voltage of -100 to −1000 V with the steel plate S as a cathode.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing an embodiment in which the target supply device 101 is used in the pretreatment chamber 32. In FIG. 5, a part of the surface treatment equipment 1 is not shown.
When metal ions such as Ti and Cr are used for the pretreatment in the pretreatment chamber 32, the pretreatment can be performed by the PVD method using a metal target. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the target supply device 101 described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 can be used as the device for supplying the target to the inside of the pretreatment chamber 32 which is a chamber.
In FIG. 5, the above-mentioned rotating base 111 is rotatably supported on the lower surface side and the upper surface side of the steel plate S conveyed inside the pretreatment chamber 32 with the shaft 151 as a fulcrum.
In the rotating base 111 on the lower surface side of the steel plate S, the target T (not shown in FIG. 5) is attached to the upper surface side of the target holding portion 121 (not shown in FIG. 5). On the other hand, in the rotating base 111 on the upper surface side of the steel plate S, the target T is attached to the lower surface side of the target holding portion 121. In this way, pretreatment can be performed simultaneously from both sides of the steel sheet S.
Then, by rotating the rotating base 111 at an appropriate timing, maintenance such as replacement of the target T can be easily performed without stopping the operation of the surface treatment facility 1, and another target T can be moved forward. It can be supplied to the inside of the processing chamber 32.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to examples. However, the present invention is not limited to these.

<Example 1>
The pre-sheet coil 11 (total mass 8t) of the grain-oriented electrical steel sheet S (plate thickness: 0.23 mm) after finish annealing was applied to the surface treatment facility 1 described with reference to FIG. 4 to form a film. The transport speed of the steel plate S was 30 m / min.
More specifically, after removing the forsterite film by mechanical polishing in the polishing facility 13, surface impurities are removed by Ar ion sputtering in the pretreatment chamber 32, and then TiN is removed by the PVD method in the film formation chamber 42. The film was formed so that the film thickness was 0.3 μm. The PVD method was an ion plating method, and the film formation temperature was 400 ° C.

In Example 1, as shown in FIG. 4, the target supply device 101 was installed in the film forming chamber 42. The shape of the target T (not shown in FIG. 4) was φ100 mm and a height of 50 mm. Three such targets T were attached to the target holding portion 121 (not shown in FIG. 4) of the rotating base 111 so as to line up three such targets T in the width direction of the steel plate S. The rotating base 111 was rotated once every 8 hours to replace the target T.

On the exit side of the film forming chamber 42, the film thickness of the TiN coating formed on both side surfaces of the steel sheet S was inspected. The film thickness was inspected by measuring the Ti intensity with fluorescent X-rays.
FIG. 6 is a graph showing the time change of the film thickness of Example 1. There is no distinction between the front and back of the steel plate S, but the outer surface when wound as the coil 18 after passing the plate is the A surface, and the inner surface is the B surface. As shown in the graph of FIG. 6, the fluctuation of the film thickness was very small as a whole.
The test was carried out for 1000 hours, during which maintenance was not required to open or cool the inside of the film forming chamber 42. Therefore, the operating rate of the surface treatment facility 1 under test could be increased to the utmost limit. Specifically, the operating rate was about 98%.

<Comparative example 1>
The film was formed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the target T was fixed inside the film forming chamber 42 without installing the target supply device 101 in the film forming chamber 42, and the film was formed on the exit side of the film forming chamber 42. , The film thickness of the TiN coating film formed on both sides of the steel plate S was inspected.
FIG. 7 is a graph showing the time change of the film thickness of Comparative Example 1. As shown in the graph of FIG. 7, at the initial stage of film formation, there was almost no difference in film thickness on both sides and the film could be formed uniformly, but the film thickness began to decrease about 8 hours after the start of film formation. Almost no film was formed in 10 hours. That is, it was found that in Comparative Example 1 in which the target T was fixed inside the film forming chamber 42, maintenance was required every 8 hours.
The test was conducted for 1000 hours, but during maintenance every 8 hours, it took about 3 hours to open and cool the film forming chamber 42, and about 5 hours to re-exhaust and reheat. Therefore, the surface treatment during the test was performed. The operating rate of equipment 1 was about 50%.

1: Surface treatment equipment 11: Coil before plate passing 12: Incoming looper 13: Polishing equipment 14: Washing equipment 15: Drying equipment 16: Outer looper 17: Shear 18: Coil after plate passing 19: Payoff reel 20: Winding reel 21: Incoming decompression equipment 22: Incoming decompression chamber 31: Pretreatment equipment 32: Pretreatment chamber (chamber)
41: Film formation equipment 42: Film formation chamber (chamber)
51: Decompression equipment on the exit side 52: Decompression chamber on the outlet side 101: Target supply device 111: Rotating base 121: Target holding portions 121a, 121b, 121c, 121d: Target holding portion 131: Base 131a, 131b, 131c, 131d: Base 151 : Shaft 201: Chamber 202: Main body 203: Gap C1: Upper surface side member C2: Lower surface side member S: Material to be filmed, grain-oriented electrical steel sheet after finish annealing T: Targets P1, P2, P3, P4: Position

Claims (8)

A target supply device that supplies the target used in the PVD method to the inside of the chamber.
A target holding unit that holds the target and
A rotating mechanism that rotatably supports two or more target holding portions and, when one target holding portion is located inside the chamber, positions another target holding portion outside the chamber. A target feeder equipped with. The target supply device according to claim 1, wherein the rotation mechanism includes a rotation base having two or more target holding portions, and a shaft that rotatably supports the rotation base. The target supply device according to claim 2, wherein the rotating substrate has four target holding portions. A chamber for continuously surface-treating the material to be deposited by the PVD method using a target,
A target holding unit that holds the target and
A rotating mechanism that rotatably supports two or more target holding portions and, when one target holding portion is located inside the chamber, positions another target holding portion outside the chamber. A surface treatment facility equipped with. The surface treatment facility according to claim 4, wherein the rotating mechanism includes a rotating base having two or more target holding portions and a shaft that rotatably supports the rotating base. The surface treatment facility according to claim 5, wherein the rotating substrate has four target holding portions. The surface treatment facility according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the film-deposited material is a metal band. The surface treatment facility according to any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein the material to be filmed is a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet having no forsterite film.