JPH01104768A - Sputtering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form a thin film with uniform quality by a simplified device constitution by providing plural reactive gas-introducing pipes and constituting these gas-introducing pipes so that they can independently control the amounts ot reactive gases to be introduced, respectively. CONSTITUTION:Three gas-introducing pipes 21a, 21b, and 21c are prepared and they are constituted so that the amounts of gases to be introduced through the respective gas-introducing pipes 21a, 21b, and 21c can be independently controlled by providing flow control valves 25a, 25b, and 25c, respectively. An argon gas-introducing pipe and an oxygen gas-introducing pipe constituted as mentioned above are attached to a sputtering device, and then sputtering is carried out. By this method, the amount of reactive gas in the vicinity of a target can be uniformly controlled by an extremely simplified device constitution and, as a result, the thin film of uniform quality can be formed even on a large-sized substrate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a sputtering apparatus using vacuum film forming technology.

Conventional technology In recent years, in vacuum film forming technology, sputtering 'JW' has been widely used in the electronic device industry due to its advantages such as the ability to increase the source area, the ease of obtaining a uniform film, and the relatively simple operation. .

Thin films used in the electronic device industry require various film qualities depending on their use. For example, regarding transparent conductive films used in transparent electrodes of liquid crystal display panels,
As display panels become larger, larger in area, and more dense, membranes with high transmittance and low sheath resistance are becoming necessary.

In addition, a method is often used in which a film is formed on a large substrate and then cut into a required shape to improve productivity.

Sputtering apparatuses are also gradually becoming larger due to the above-mentioned reasons, but with the increase in size, IJ18, such as difficulty in obtaining uniform film quality, has arisen.

Below, ITO (indium,
Nine, Oxai F (jndiua+ Tin 0x
ide)) A conventional reactive sputtering apparatus will be described using a film as an example with reference to the drawings.

In general, an ITO film is formed by using an alloy of indium and tin as a target layer, and by reactive sputtering using a mixed gas of argon and oxygen. If necessary, heat treatment is performed to make the thin film 1 transparent and to stabilize the resistance of the sheet resistor 7.

W419 is a plan view showing an outline of a conventional reactive sputtering apparatus, in which a glass substrate 5 is set on a tray 4 and placed in a substrate input zone 10.

- Next, the vacuum chamber 1 is passed through the exhaust port 3 to a vacuum level of 10' To
After that, argon gas and oxygen gas are introduced into the vacuum chamber 1 through the argon gas introduction pipe and the oxygen gas introduction pipe 7 to a degree of vacuum of 10' Torr.

In order to stabilize the discharge between the indium and tin alloy target 2 and the anode, press sputtering is performed, and during this time the glass substrate 5 is heated to about 300° C. in the substrate input zone IO.

After the discharge is stabilized, the tray 4 is moved through the tray transport port, the roller 8 is turned around, and the ITO film is deposited on the glass substrate 5 by transporting the tray 4 in the direction of the film forming zone 11 at a constant speed.

When the tray 4 is conveyed to the substrate take-out zone 12 by the tray conveyor Ronilla 8, the discharge is stopped and the glass substrate 5 is cooled. Finally, the vacuum chamber 1 is returned to atmospheric pressure and the glass substrate 5 is taken out. With the above steps, the formation of the ITO film is completed.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention FIG. 3 shows the structure of the oxygen introduction pipe 7, which has the same shape as the argon gas four-man pipe in such a conventional sputtering apparatus.

In FIG. 3, the gas that has been adjusted to a constant level by the pulp 35 is first introduced into the inlet pipe 3 through the blowout hole 34 of the internal pipe 32.
1 and further introduced into the vacuum chamber through the blowout slit 33. In this configuration, the amount of gas introduced through the blow-off slit 33 is 8, which is the same for every slit in the introduction pipe 31. .

For this reason, especially when forming a film on a large-area glass substrate 5 using a large-sized sputtering device, the reactive gas introduced through the argon gas introduction pipe and the oxygen gas introduction pipe 7 collects at the exhaust port 3 and near the target 2. The gas concentration becomes non-uniform between the center and the edges.

For this reason, the quality of the formed film differs between the center and the edges of the substrate, and with ITO films, the sheet resistance value and visible light transmittance become uneven within the substrate, making it difficult to increase the area. Met. The present invention has been made in view of these points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a sputtering apparatus that can form a film of uniform quality with an hour wheel-like apparatus configuration.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has a configuration in which a plurality of reactive gas introduction pipes are installed, and each introduction pipe can independently control the amount of reactive gas introduced. This is what I did.

According to the present invention, with the above-described configuration, the amount of reactive gas introduced into each introduction pipe can be adjusted, and the gas concentration near the target of the reactive gas can be made uniform. This makes the film quality of the formed thin film uniform.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A sputtering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an argon gas introduction pipe and an oxygen gas introduction pipe used in this example. Gas introduction pipes 21a, 21b, 31
The structure of c itself is similar to the conventional gas introduction pipe 3 shown in Fig. 3.
Same as 1.

Since the exhaust port of the sputtering device is located at the center of the target, the reactive gas introduced into the vacuum chamber from the gas introduction pipe gathers at the center of the gas at the end of the target, resulting in non-uniform gas concentration.

In order to solve this problem, three gas introduction pipes 21a, 21b, . . . , 21c as shown in FIG. a, 25b.

25C, gas and black pipes 21a and 21b, respectively.

The configuration is such that the amount of gas introduced from 21c can be controlled in four ways.

The thus constructed argon gas introduction pipe and oxygen gas introduction pipe were attached to a sputtering apparatus shown in FIG. 2 to form a film.

(10wt%) using an alloy target consisting of
The film was deposited to a thickness of 00ms+2.

The amount of argon gas introduced at this time was 170 SCC at the center.
M, 210SCCM at both ends, and the oxygen gas introduction amount is 233CCM at the center and 32SCC at both ends.
It was set as M.

On the other hand, as a comparative example outside the scope of the present invention, the argon gas introduction pipe and the oxygen introduction pipe 7 shown in FIG. 3 were attached to the sputtering apparatus shown in FIG. The amount is 26S
An ITO film was formed on a glass substrate in the same manner as in the example of the present invention described above, except that CCM was used.

The sheet resistance value and visible light transmittance of the ITO film thus obtained were measured. The results are shown in Table 1.

(Margins below) Table 1 From the results in Table 1, it can be seen that in the examples of the present invention, ITO films with uniform film quality distribution were obtained. On the other hand, in comparative examples outside the scope of the present invention, the distribution of film quality was non-uniform.

Note that the sheet resistance value was measured by a four-terminal method, and the visible light transmittance was measured using a spectrometer.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the gas introduction pipe is divided into three parts to control the amount of gas introduced into each part, but it may be further divided into smaller parts, or the length of the pipe at the gas introduction part may be divided into equal parts. However, the length of the pipe may be changed depending on the installation location if necessary.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the amount of reactive gas near the target can be uniformly controlled with an extremely simple device configuration, and as a result, thin films of uniform quality can be deposited even on large substrates. can do.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing the outline of the configuration of a gas introduction pipe according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the outline of a sputtering device, and Fig. 3 is an outline of the arrangement of a conventional gas introduction pipe. FIG. 21a, 21b, 21c... gas introduction pipe,
22... Internal pipe, 23... Gas blowing slit, 24... Gas blowing hole, 25
a, 25b. 25c...Pulp.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A sputtering apparatus characterized in that a plurality of reactive gas introduction pipes are installed, and each of the introduction pipes is configured to be able to independently control the amount of the reactive gas introduced.