JP6909196B2 - Film deposition equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus.

Conventionally, when producing a conductive film or the like, a film is carried into a vacuum chamber, and the carried-in film is run by a roll to pass through a plurality of film forming chambers around the film, and a conductive layer is formed on the surface of the film. A film forming apparatus for forming such as is proposed.

WO2011-046050 Republication Bulletin JP-A-2017-110240 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2017-101282 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-219322 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-138229 JP-A-2015-74810

In the above-mentioned film forming apparatus, since there are a plurality of film forming chambers around the roll, there is a problem that it is difficult to clean and maintain each film forming chamber and the roll.

Therefore, in view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a film forming apparatus capable of easily cleaning and maintaining each film forming chamber and roll.

In the present invention, the vacuum chamber, the opening opened in the front surface of the vacuum chamber, the door closing the opening, the entrance / exit of the base material opened in the upper surface of the vacuum chamber, and the opening in the vacuum chamber are horizontal. A roll arranged in the front-rear direction in a state, holding and rotating the base material carried in from the loading / unloading port, and carrying out from the loading / unloading port, and a plurality of rolls arranged on the outer periphery of the roll in the vacuum chamber. The film forming chamber and the film forming apparatus for forming a film on the base material, which is arranged in each of the film forming chambers and travels with the rotation of the roll, are provided, and the front rotation axis of the roll is the said. A rear bearing that is rotatably supported by a front bearing provided on the door, a roll support member is provided rearward from the door, and a rear bearing that rotatably supports the rear rotation shaft of the roll is provided at the rear portion of the roll support member. The door is provided with a moving table, a moving means for moving the door and the roll in the front-rear direction together with the moving table is provided, and the moving table is provided with the front rotating shaft protruding from the door. A roll motor for rotating is provided , and the door has a space sandwiched between the front door plate, the rear door plate, the front door plate and the rear door plate, and the front door plate, the space, and the rear. It is a film forming apparatus having a through hole opened in a door plate and through which the front rotating shaft penetrates.

According to the present invention, since the roll can be taken out from the vacuum chamber, each film forming chamber and the roll can be easily cleaned and maintained.

It is a partial cut-out side view of the film forming apparatus in the state where the roll is housed. It is a partially cutaway side view of the state where the roll is pulled out. It is a front view of the vacuum chamber with the door removed. It is a vertical sectional view seen from the side surface of a vacuum chamber. It is a perspective view of a door and a roll. It is an enlarged vertical sectional view near the through hole of a door. This is an example of modification when four film forming chambers are provided.

Hereinafter, the film forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

The film forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment relates to an apparatus for forming a conductive film on the surface of a base material W transported at a constant transport speed in a vacuum. The base material W is, for example, a synthetic resin film or the like.

(1) Film forming apparatus 1
The structure of the film forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the film forming apparatus 1 has a vacuum chamber 10 and a moving table 8.

The vacuum chamber 10 is horizontally arranged on a horizontal table 2 placed on the floor via a fixing table 9. As shown in FIG. 3, the vacuum chamber 10 has a polygonal vertical cross section, the left, lower, and right outer walls 12 have the same size, and the rear surface is closed. The front surface of the vacuum chamber 10 is open and covered with a door 14. In the vacuum chamber 10, rolls (can rolls) 18 are arranged in the front-rear direction and so that the axis of rotation is horizontal. In the vacuum chamber 10, an upper chamber 24 is arranged above the outer circumference of the roll 18, and three film forming chambers 26 are provided on the left, lower, and right sides of the roll 18. The upper surface of the upper chamber 24 is opened as an entrance / exit 16 of the base material W, and is connected to a loading / unloading device (not shown). This loading / unloading device transports the base material W in a vacuum state. The outer peripheral walls of the film forming chamber 26 on the left, lower, and right sides also serve as the outer wall 12.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a pair of left and right linear rails 4 and 4 are provided in the front-rear direction on the horizontal base 2 in front of the vacuum chamber 10. The moving table 8 is provided with a pair of left and right linear rails 4 and 4 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction via the rail moving portion 6.

(2) Roll 18
The roll 18 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

As shown in FIG. 3, the roll 18 rotates while holding the base material W, and conveys the base material W at a constant transfer speed.

As shown in FIG. 4, the front rotating shaft 20 of the roll 18 penetrates the through hole 28 provided in the door 14. Further, the front rotating shaft 20 is rotatably supported by a front bearing 30 provided at the position of the through hole 28 on the rear surface of the door 14.

As shown in FIG. 4, a pair of left and right roll support members 32 are attached to the lower part of the rear surface of the door 14 toward the rear. The pair of left and right roll support members 32 include a front support portion 34 provided at the front end portion, a rear support portion 36 provided at the rear end portion, and a horizontal portion 38 connecting the front support portion 34 and the rear support portion 36. Each is composed of more.

As shown in FIG. 5, the left front support portion 34 is attached in an inclined state from below the through hole 28 toward the left side portion of the lower rear surface of the door 14, and the right front support portion 34 is attached to the door 14. It is installed at an angle toward the right side of the lower part of the rear surface. As a result, the pair of left and right roll support members 32 are attached so as to face each other in a "C" shape. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the roll 18 is supported in a cantilevered state by a pair of left and right roll support members 32 facing each other in a "C" shape.

As shown in FIG. 5, a rear surface plate 40 is provided on the pair of left and right rear support portions 36. The rear surface plate 40 is composed of a disk 58, a pair of left and right leg plates 60, 60, and an upper plate 62. A rear bearing 42 is provided in the center of the disk 58 to rotatably support the rear rotating shaft 22 of the roll 18. The pair of left and right leg plates 60, 60 project from the lower part of the disk 58 in a "C" shape, respectively, and are fixed to the rear portion of the horizontal portion 38. The upper plate 62 projects from the upper part of the disk 58 and is arranged on the rear surface of the upper chamber 24. The rear surface plate 40 is provided to reliably support the rear bearing 42, and is held by the roll support member 32.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, two carry-in rolls 44, 46 and two carry-out rolls 44, 46 and two carry-out rolls are rotatably placed above the roll 18 and between the door 14 and the upper plate 62 of the rear plate 40. Rolls 48 and 50 are rotatably attached.

(3) Upper chamber 24 and film formation chamber 26
Next, the upper chamber 24 and the three film forming chambers 26 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5. As shown in FIG. 3, the vertical cross section of the vacuum chamber 10 is polygonal, and an upper chamber 24 and three film forming chambers 26 are provided inside the outer wall 12 on each side. The partition walls 52 are provided in the front-rear direction from the outer walls 12 on the upper left and the upper right toward the front-rear rotation shafts 20 and 22 of the roll 18. The length of the partition wall 52 in the left-right direction extends to the outer peripheral portion of the roll 18. A partition wall 53 is provided in the front-rear direction from the outer wall 12 on the lower left and the lower right toward the front-rear rotation shafts 20 and 22 of the roll 18. As shown in FIG. 3, the pair of partition walls 53 on both sides of the film forming chamber 26 below the roll 18 is shorter than the other partition walls 52, and the horizontal portion 38 of the roll support member 32 is arranged at this position. .. That is, the lower film forming chamber 26 is partitioned by the partition wall 53 and the horizontal portion 38.

As shown in FIG. 3, the doorway 16 is open above the upper chamber 24. Further, the carry-in rolls 44 and 46 and the carry-out rolls 48 and 50 are arranged in the front-rear direction. The carry-in roll 46 and the carry-out roll 48 are arranged so as to press the base material W against the roll 18.

As shown in FIG. 3, a film forming apparatus 54 is arranged in the front-rear direction in the central portion of each film forming chamber 26. The film forming apparatus 54 injects a predetermined process gas into a vacuum from the inner peripheral side (arrow in FIG. 3), and discharges from an electrode provided on the inner peripheral side of the film forming apparatus 54 onto the roll 18. A conductive film is formed on the surface of the conveyed base material W.

As shown in FIG. 3, a vacuum pump 56 is provided outside the outer wall 12 of each film forming chamber 26 to evacuate each film forming chamber 26. As shown in FIG. 5, the vacuum pump 56 is located at the center of the outer wall 12 of each film forming chamber 26 in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, each film forming chamber 26 is surrounded by a pair of partition walls 52, 52 (a pair of partition walls 53, 53) and an outer wall 12, and the inner peripheral side faces the surface of the roll 18. .. As shown in FIG. 3, the vertical cross-sectional shape of each film forming chamber 26 has the same shape and the same size in all the chambers.

As shown by the arrow in FIG. 3, when the process gas is injected from the inner peripheral side of the film forming apparatus 54 and hits the roll 18 and bounces off, both sides of the film forming apparatus 54 and a pair of partition walls 52, 52 (a pair of partition walls 53). , 53) and is sucked into the vacuum pump 56. At this time, since the vertical cross-sectional shape of each film forming chamber 26 is the same shape and the same size, the process gas flows in the same manner in any room, and the conditions do not differ depending on the room. , The conductive film and the like formed by each film forming apparatus 54 are equal.

(4) Structure of Door 14 Next, the structure of the door 14 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 6. The roll 18 is in a cantilevered state by a pair of left and right roll support members 32, and the front rotating shaft 20 is rotatably supported by the front bearing 30 and penetrates through the through hole 28. Therefore, when the vacuum chamber 10 is evacuated and the door 14 is distorted in the front-rear direction, the rear portion of the cantilevered roll 18 is lowered. In order to prevent this, the door 14 has the following structure in the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 6, the door 14 has a front door plate 72 and a rear door plate 74, and for example, recesses are formed on the surfaces facing each other, and the door 14 is one more than the door 14 in a state where both are combined. A small space 76 is formed around it. The structure is not limited to the structure in which the concave portion is formed, and a structure in which the convex portion and the concave portion are formed in the front door plate 72 and the rear door plate 74 may be used. The front door plate 72 and the rear door plate 74 are fixed by a plurality of bolts 80 via a sealing member 78. A vacuum seal bearing 82 is provided on the inner circumference of the through hole 28 penetrating the front door plate 72 to rotatably support the front rotating shaft 20. The rear portion of the vacuum seal bearing 82 is attached to the front surface of the door 14 via a bellows-shaped connecting member 84.

With this structure, even if the vacuum chamber 10 is in a vacuum state, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 6, only the front door plate 72 of the door 14 is deformed by evacuation. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, when the vacuum chamber 10 is evacuated, the space 76 is also evacuated through the front bearing 30 and the through hole 28. Therefore, the front door plate 72 is recessed rearward. However, since both the front and the rear of the rear door plate 74 are in a vacuum state, the vertical state can be maintained, and the front rotating shaft 20 supported by the front bearing 30 does not tilt from the horizontal state, and the roll support member is further supported. Since 32 is fixed to the rear door plate 74, the rear portion does not go down.

Further, even if the front door plate 72 is distorted rearward, the distortion can be absorbed by the bellows-shaped connecting member 84, so that the horizontal state of the vacuum seal bearing 82 can be maintained.

Further, since the vacuum seal bearing 82 is provided in the through hole 28 of the front door plate 72, the vacuum state of the vacuum chamber 10 can be maintained.

(5) Drawer Structure of Roll 18 The drawer structure of the roll 18 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 and 5.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a pair of left and right linear rails 4 and 4 are provided in the front-rear direction on the horizontal base 2 in front of the vacuum chamber 10. A moving base 8 is provided on the pair of left and right linear rails 4 and 4 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction via the rail moving portion 6.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a frame 64 is provided on the upper part of the moving table 8, and the front surface of the door 14 is fixed. As a result, the door 14 moves in the front-rear direction together with the moving table 8. A speed reducer 66, a roll motor 68, and a moving motor 70 are provided inside the frame 64. The front rotating shaft 20 of the roll 18 penetrating through the through hole 28 of the door 14 is connected to the roll motor 68 via the speed reducer 66 and rotates at a constant rotation speed. The moving motor 70 moves the moving table 8 in the front-rear direction at a constant traveling speed along a pair of left and right linear rails 4, 4. As a method of this movement, for example, a rack is provided on the horizontal base 2 between a pair of left and right linear rails 4, and a gear screwed with the rack is rotated by a moving motor 70 to move the rack.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the door 14 moves forward together with the moving table 8, the roll 18 in a cantilevered state by the pair of left and right roll support members 32 is pulled out to the outside. At this time, the carry-in rolls 44 and 46 and the carry-out rolls 48 and 50 are also carried out at the same time. Then, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, since the rear surface plate 40 is formed of the disk 58, the leg plate 60, and the upper plate 62, the rear surface plate 40 can be pulled out without hitting the partition wall 52 of the five film forming chambers 26. ..

On the contrary, as shown in FIG. 1, when the door 14 moves backward together with the moving table 8, the roll 18 in a cantilevered state by the pair of left and right roll support members 32 is inserted into the vacuum chamber 10.

(6) Operating state of the film forming apparatus 1 The operating state of the film forming apparatus 1 will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the roll 18 is housed inside the vacuum chamber 10 and the door 14 is closed to close the door 14.

As shown in FIG. 3, the upper chamber 24 and the three film forming chambers 26 in the vacuum chamber 10 are evacuated by three vacuum pumps 56. The roll motor 68 rotates the roll 18 at a constant rotation speed.

As shown in FIG. 3, the base material W carried into the upper chamber 24 from the entrance 16 of the vacuum chamber 10 reaches the carry-in roll 46 via the carry-in roll 44, and the base material W is conveyed by the roll 18. The base material W transported to the roll 18 passes through the film forming chamber 26 on the left side, the film forming chamber 26 on the lower side, and the film forming chamber 26 on the right side, and then the unloading roll 48 and the unloading roll 50 in the upper chamber 24. It is carried out from the doorway 16 via.

As shown in FIG. 3, in each film forming chamber 26, process gas is injected from the inner peripheral side of the film forming apparatus 54, the electrodes of the film forming apparatus 54 are charged, and the film travels on the outer peripheral surface of the roll 18. A conductive layer is formed on the surface of the base material W. The process gas flows along both sides of the film forming apparatus 54 and the partition wall 52 that bounces off the roll 18, and is discharged to the outside by the vacuum pump 56. In this case, since the vacuum pump 56 is located at the center of the outer wall 12 of each film forming chamber 26 in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction, the process gas flows uniformly in the film forming chamber 26.

(7) Effect According to the present embodiment, when the door 14 is pulled out from the vacuum chamber 10 together with the moving table 8, the roll 18, the carry-in rolls 44, 46 and the carry-out rolls 48, 50 are pulled out, so that the respective film forming chambers 26 All the inner peripheral sides of the film are open, and the respective film forming chambers 26 and rolls 18 can be easily cleaned and maintained.

Further, even if the vacuum chamber 10 is in a vacuum state, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 6, the portion deformed by evacuation is only the front door plate 72 of the door 14. Since the front rotating shaft 20 supported by the front bearing 30 on the rear door plate 74 is not tilted from the horizontal state and the roll support member 32 is further fixed to the rear door plate 74, the roll 18 The rear does not go down. Therefore, wrinkles and meandering do not occur in the base material W conveyed by the roll 18.

Further, since the pair of left and right roll support members 32 are attached to the door 14 so as to face each other in a "C" shape, the roll 18 can be reliably supported even if it can be cantilevered.

Further, even when the front door plate 72 is distorted rearward, the distortion can be absorbed by the bellows-shaped connecting member 84, so that the horizontal state of the vacuum seal bearing 82 can be maintained.

Further, since the vacuum seal bearing 82 is provided in the through hole 28 of the front door plate 72, the vacuum state of the vacuum chamber 10 can be maintained.

Further, since the vertical cross-sectional shape of each film forming chamber 26 has the same shape and the same size, as shown in FIG. 3, even if the process gas is injected from the inner peripheral side of the film forming apparatus 54. Since the gas flows along both sides of the film forming apparatus 54 and the partition walls 52 and 53 and is sucked into the vacuum pump 56, the process gas flows in the same manner in any room. Therefore, the film forming conditions do not differ depending on the film forming chamber 26, and the conductive film and the like formed by each film forming apparatus 54 become uniform.

Further, since the vacuum pump 56 is located at the center of the outer wall 12 of each film forming chamber 26 in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction, the process gas flows uniformly in the film forming chamber 26.

Change example

Next, a modified example of the film forming apparatus 1 will be described.

In the above embodiment, one vacuum pump 56 is provided at the center of the outer wall 12 of each film forming chamber 26 in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction. Two or more vacuum pumps 56 may be evenly provided in one film forming chamber 26.

Further, although the three film forming chambers 26 are provided in the above embodiment, four film forming chambers 26 may be provided instead as shown in FIG. 7. Even in this case, each film forming chamber 26 has the same shape and the same size, and the vacuum pump 56 is provided at the center of the outer wall 12 of the film forming chamber 26. However, when four film forming chambers 26 are formed, three roll support members 32 are provided instead of two in order to ensure the support of the roll 18, and the third roll support member 32 is vertical. Place in the direction.

Further, although not shown, five film forming chambers 26 may be provided. In this case, the vacuum chamber 10 has a polygonal vertical cross section, the upper left, lower left, lower, lower right, and upper right outer walls 12 have the same size, and the rear surface is closed. The front surface of the vacuum chamber 10 is open and covered with a door 14. In the vacuum chamber 10, rolls (can rolls) 18 are arranged in the front-rear direction and so that the axis of rotation is horizontal. In the vacuum chamber 10, an upper chamber 24 is arranged above the outer circumference of the roll 18, and five film forming chambers 26 are provided on the upper left, lower left, lower, lower right, and upper right of the roll 18. Each film forming chamber 26 has the same shape and the same size, and the vacuum pump 56 is provided in the central portion of the outer wall 12 of the film forming chamber 26.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, this embodiment is presented as an example and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other embodiments, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

1 ... film formation device, 2 ... horizontal table, 4 ... linear rail, 6 ... rail moving part, 8 ... moving table, 10 ... vacuum chamber, 12 ... outer wall, 14 ... door, 26 ... film formation chamber, 28 ... through hole, 52 ... partition wall, 54 ... film formation forming device, 56 ... vacuum pump

Claims (9)

Vacuum chamber and
An opening opened in the front surface of the vacuum chamber and
A door that closes the opening and
The entrance and exit of the base material opened on the upper surface of the vacuum chamber,
A roll that is horizontally arranged in the vacuum chamber in the front-rear direction, holds the base material carried in from the loading / unloading port, rotates, and carries out from the loading / unloading port.
In the vacuum chamber, a plurality of film forming chambers arranged on the outer periphery of the roll, and
A film forming apparatus arranged in each of the film forming chambers and forming a film on the base material traveling with the rotation of the roll, and a film forming apparatus.
Have,
The front rotating shaft of the roll is rotatably supported by a front bearing provided on the door.
A roll support member is provided from the door toward the rear.
A rear bearing that rotatably supports the rear rotation shaft of the roll is provided at the rear portion of the roll support member.
A moving table is provided on the door,
A moving means for moving the door and the roll together with the moving table in the front-rear direction is provided.
The moving table is provided with a roll motor that rotates the front rotating shaft protruding from the door .
The door has a space sandwiched between the front door plate, the rear door plate, and the front door plate and the rear door plate.
It has a through hole that opens into the front door plate, the space, and the rear door plate, and through which the front rotation shaft penetrates.
Film forming equipment. The door is provided with a vacuum seal bearing that rotatably supports the front rotating shaft protruding from the through hole of the front door plate on the front door plate.
The film forming apparatus according to claim 1. The front door plate and the vacuum seal bearing are connected via a connecting member that can be expanded and contracted in the front-rear direction.
The film forming apparatus according to claim 2. A pair of left and right rails are provided in the front-rear direction on the horizontal plane on which the vacuum chamber is placed.
The moving table travels on the pair of left and right rails.
The film forming apparatus according to claim 1. The moving means is provided on the moving table.
The film forming apparatus according to claim 1. The roll support member has at least a pair of left and right horizontal portions.
A pair of left and right front ends of the horizontal portion are fixed to the door, respectively.
A pair of left and right rear support portions are provided from the rear end portions of the pair of left and right horizontal portions, respectively.
A rear face plate is provided at the rear of the pair of left and right rear support portions.
The rear bearing is provided on the rear plate.
The film forming apparatus according to claim 1. A carry-in roll and a carry-out roll are rotatably provided above the roll between the door and the rear surface plate.
The film forming apparatus according to claim 6. The adjacent film forming chambers are separated by a partition wall, respectively.
The film forming apparatus according to claim 7. The pair of left and right horizontal portions also serve as the partition wall.
The film forming apparatus according to claim 8.

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