JPH01272767A - Continuous vacuum vapor deposition device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To continuously apply vapor deposition onto paper, etc., and to remarkably improve the rate of operation by introducing a substrate into an evaporation chamber via plural pressure cells dividedly formed by means of sealing rolls and also providing a device for feeding a vapor deposition material from outside into the evaporation chamber. CONSTITUTION:A substrate 1 taken out from an uncoiler 19 is introduced via a sealing device 14 into a vapor deposition chamber 2 to undergo vapor deposition, which is taken out again via the sealing device 14 and wound by means of a coiler 20. At this time, in the above sealing device 14, plural sets of pressure cells 16a, 16b, 16c, etc., are dividedly formed by means of three-in-a-set sealing rolls 15a, 15b, 15c, etc., and a pressure gradient is formed from the air side by means of an exhaust pump unit 29, and the substrate 1 is guided by deflector rolls 3. Further, channels 17 and ah edge mask 11 are provided to the upper part of a vapor deposition material storage vessel 9 to restrict the spreading of an evaporation material evaporated in the direction of the width of the substrate 1, and the storage vessel 9 is replenished with the evaporation material 8 by the consumed amount by means of a charging device consisting of a fixed-quantity feeder 24.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a continuous vacuum deposition apparatus for continuously depositing metals or non-metals onto substrates such as paper and plastic films.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in the thin film forming method of vapor depositing metals or non-metals on a substrate such as paper or plastic film, the substrate is coiled in advance and loaded into a vacuum container, the vacuum container is sufficiently evacuated, the hindlimb substrate is run, the vapor deposition is carried out, A complete continuous evaporation system that uses a patch method to continuously transport substrates from the atmosphere into the system uses a differential pumping system itself that creates a pressure gradient before and after the evaporation chamber and seals the atmosphere side and the high vacuum chamber. Although the concept is well known, at present it has not yet been put to practical use as a continuous vapor deposition apparatus. This puff-F type conventional example and differential exhaust system are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

In FIG. 3, a substrate 1 wound into a coil is loaded into a deposition chamber 2 in communication with a winding roll 5 via a deflector roll 3 and a cooling roll 4. After the inside of the deposition chamber 2 reaches a predetermined degree of vacuum by the exhaust sonde unit 29, the substrate 1 is rolled up and run through the cooling roll 4.
While being cooled to reduce the temperature rise due to heating during vapor deposition, the film is vapor deposited in the vapor deposition device 7 and wound up. The vapor deposition device 7 is composed of a plurality of storage containers 9 which are arranged at regular intervals in the width direction of the vapor deposition material 8 and the substrate 10 and which store the vapor deposition material 8, and a heating device 10 for the container 9. The other side is evaporated. At this time, the evaporated deposition material 8 spreads and flies not only directly above but also in diagonal directions. It is installed with an edge mask 11 so as to be positioned so as to overlap. As described above, the evaporation work is a patch work in which the positions of the edge masks II in the storage container 9 are manually set in advance according to the width of the substrate for each coil, and vacuuming, heating, running, evaporation, and air release are repeated. becomes.

Figure 4 shows a diagram with a differential pumping system added before and after the evaporation chamber shown in Figure 3 to continuously supply substrates from the atmosphere into a vacuum. ) has become publicly known. Vapor deposition chamber 2 is sealed o-ILt15a
, 15b, 15G... and connected to the exhaust pump unit, respectively.
An inlet sealing device 12 consisting of 6G... and an outlet sealing device 13 having the same configuration are connected back and forth, and a pressure gradient is generated from the atmosphere side to the deposition chamber 2 due to the resistance of the seal rolls 15a, 15b, 15c... A predetermined degree of vacuum is maintained. The substrate 1 is transported from the atmosphere to the vapor deposition chamber 2 via the inlet sealing device 12, and after being vapor-deposited by the vapor deposition device 7, it is carried out to the atmosphere via the outlet sealing device 13.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The following problems can be cited as reasons why the above-mentioned continuity has not been implemented. The first problem is that the exhaust volume required to generate a pressure gradient from the atmospheric side to the high vacuum equipment is enormous, making the exhaust pump system extremely large.

For this reason, a method is used to pinch the traveling substrate with a seal roll to reduce the leakage area between each pressure chamber, but with thin substrates such as paper or plastic film, pinching can cause scratches, resulting in product quality. This is difficult in practice as it becomes a fatal defect. The second problem is that when the traveling substrate passes through the pressure chambers, the airflow flowing through the gaps between the pressure chambers causes the substrate to fluctuate, be scratched, and be damaged. The third problem is that the evaporation material evaporates from the evaporation material storage container, spreads out, and flies away, so that it is not only evaporated onto the substrate but also trapped on the mask. In the case of the patch method, the time required for one patch is short and the amount of sediment is small, and the removal work can be done for each patch, but in the case of the continuous method, the vapor deposited material trapped in the mask cooling roll etc. accumulates and increases the thickness. This causes the gap between the cooling roll and the mask to be blocked and the substrate passing through the gap to be damaged. Furthermore, in the case of a continuous type, it is necessary to be able to accommodate changes in the width of the traveling substrate. If the deposition material is trapped in the seal roll, depending on the width, the substrate may pass over the dragged deposition material, making deposition difficult. . This problem can be said to be an extremely serious problem in practice, since the yield of vapor deposition material in the conventional patch method is less than 50%.

The fourth problem is that the vapor is evaporated from multiple evaporation material storage containers, so the vapor spreading upward from one storage container overlaps the vapor from the adjacent storage container to form a evaporation film, which results in a uniform deposition film in the width direction. The problem lies in the patch method itself, which requires skill in controlling the temperature of each vapor deposition material in order to obtain a film thickness distribution. In other words, in order to achieve continuity, it is necessary to continuously respond to different widths of substrates, and the time constant of controlling the temperature of each evaporation material and increasing/decreasing the number of times the storage container is heated is extremely disadvantageous in practice. In addition to the main problems mentioned above, in order to realize continuity, it is necessary to continuously supply the evaporation material from the atmosphere into the vacuum container, to continuously supply the running substrate i, and to achieve winding. The current situation is that no practical proposals have been made to solve the problem, and it has not yet materialized.

An object of the present invention is to provide a continuous vacuum evaporation apparatus that can solve the above-mentioned conventional problems.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A continuous vacuum evaporation apparatus according to the present invention includes an uncoiler that is equipped with means for adhering and cutting substrates and transports the substrates to a sealing apparatus;
It consists of a coiler equipped with a means for adhering and cutting the substrate and transporting the substrate from the sealing device, and a plurality of pressure chambers partitioned by a set of three sealing rolls, each pressure chamber having a deflector roll for wrapping the substrate around the sealing roll. a vapor deposition chamber having a channel and an edge mask between a sealing device having a sealing device having a cooling roll located above and an elongated vapor deposition material storage container having a vapor deposition metal input port from an external vapor deposition metal supply device at one end; It is characterized by comprising the following.

[Effect]

The functions of the present invention are as follows.

(1) Three seal rolls are used as a set, and one of the three rolls has two gaps between the rolls, with one running board going from the atmosphere to the vacuum chamber, and the other running board going from the vacuum chamber to the atmosphere. In particular, the inlet side sealing device and the outlet side sealing device are integrated, that is, the inner cylinder 10-roll and the 20th-roll of one set of three rolls are integrated.
A plurality of sets of seal rolls are used to pass the substrate traveling from the atmosphere side to the vacuum chamber side through the gap between the 20th and 30th rules, and to allow the substrate traveling backwards from the vacuum chamber side to the atmosphere side to pass through the gap between the 20th and 30th rules. By forming a pressure chamber between a set of three adjacent seal rolls with the same configuration, the number of rolls is reduced, the gap between the rolls is reduced, and the capacity of the exhaust system is reduced. In addition, the sealing device can be made more compact.

(2) A deflector roll is installed between each set of seal rolls, and a button is arranged so that the running board wraps around each seal roll VC by 10 degrees or more, to prevent the board from fluttering due to airflow flowing through the gap between the seal rolls. can.

(3) A channel is installed between the cooling roll and the vapor deposition material storage container so that there is a certain gap between the roll and the storage container, and the vapor that evaporates from the storage container is surrounded, and the inner surface of the channel on the vapor side is higher than the melting point of the vapor deposition material. By forming a double structure consisting of a heat insulating layer and an outer heat insulating layer, the vapor deposition material other than the amount deposited on the running board is trapped by the channel, becomes a liquid, and flows into the vapor deposition material storage container. Because of the reflux, the yield of the evaporation material is greatly improved and the evaporation material is deposited.

The problem of interference with Lum is also eliminated. Incidentally, research results show that the deposition material yield has reached over 90%.

(4) An edge mask is installed on both ends of the substrate so as to be slidable in the channel and in the width direction of the substrate, and the relative position of the edge mask and the substrate is controlled according to the width of the traveling substrate, that is, the edge mask is kept constant with the cooling roll. By installing it with a gap maintained and always controlling the position so that it overlaps a small amount at both ends of the running board in the width direction, the steam rising in the channel will not flow out beyond the width of the running board and adhere to the cooling roll. In addition, substrates with different widths can be continuously and stably deposited.

(5) If the evaporation material storage container is an integral container in the width direction of the substrate, the evaporation surface will be continuous in the width direction, and the distribution of the evaporation film thickness on the substrate will be uniform. Even if the position on the top of the substrate is changed according to the width of the substrate, the distribution state does not change, allowing stable and continuous deposition.

(6) A weir is provided at one end of the vapor deposition material storage container, and a vapor deposition material inlet is installed on the outside of the weir. In other words, the upper layer is arranged so that the vapor deposition material heated and melted in the storage container flows through the bottom. It is partitioned by a weir, and new evaporation material is continuously supplied from the evaporation material input port installed on the molten evaporation material on the outside of the partition, and oxides etc. in the evaporation material enter the partitioned inside and the molten evaporation material is removed. This prevents the problem of surface build-up and inhibiting evaporation performance.

(7) The deposition material is once put into the receiving hopper and maintained at a predetermined degree of vacuum with a separate vacuum pump, and then the pulp at the bottom is opened and stored in the lower supply hopper. A feeder such as the above is used to continuously charge the liquid into the inlet on the storage container while controlling the amount to match the amount of evaporation. When the amount of deposition material in the supply hopper reaches the lower limit, the pulp at the bottom of the receiving hopper closes, and new deposition material is introduced into the receiving hopper.The pattern is repeated. It becomes possible to input.

(8) Two pairs of reels can be rotated on each of the inlet and outlet sides of the sealing device.The attachment is a presser foot for gluing the running board that is being paid out/taken out or wound up from one pair of reels to the other reel. Continuous supply of substrates by installing a continuous substrate winding/unwinding machine equipped with a cutting machine that separates the running substrates that are being paid out or wound up from the rolls and reels of the adhesive halo. becomes possible.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional side view showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. tIiE2 is a partially enlarged sectional view taken along arrow A in FIG.

In Figures 1 and 2, 1 and 1' are running boards, 2
is a deposition chamber, 3 is a deflector roll, 4 is a cooling roll, 5
is a take-up reel, 6 is an unwinding reel, 7 is a vapor deposition device, 8Fi
Deposition material, 9 is a deposition material storage container, 10 is a heating device, 11 is a work mask, 12 is an inlet sealing device, 13 is an outlet sealing device, 14 is a sealing device, 1! ia, 15b, 15C
are seal CI-rule, 16a, 16b, 16cFi pressure chamber, 17 is channel, 1B is vapor deposition material inlet, 19 is uncoiler, 20 is this, 2 is pressing roll, 22 is W
24 is a metering machine, 25 is a receiving hopper, 2C is a supply hopper, 27 is a pulp, 28 is a vacuum pump, and 29 is an exhaust pump unit.

In FIG. 1, the running substrate 1 is attached to one pair of reels 6 of a pair of uncoilers 1902 and sent to the sealing device 14 via the deflector rolls 3.

The sealing device R14 includes a set of three sealing rolls 15B, 1
A pressure chamber 16a is partitioned by a plurality of sets of pressure chambers 5b, 15G, etc. arranged at intervals.

16 b , f 6 C-..., and the same pressure chamber 16
B, 16b.

Exhaust pump connected to 16G...=7) 29
A pressure gradient is generated from the atmospheric side up to the vapor deposition chamber 2 to maintain the vapor deposition chamber 2 at a predetermined degree of vacuum. Traveling board 1c.
The sealing rolls 15; 1, 15b pass through the gaps between the two rolls on one side of the three rolls one after another, are deposited on the cooling roll 4 by the deposition device 7, and then are deposited again.

15G...03 It travels in the opposite direction through the gap between the two opposite rolls and is carried out from the sealing device 14.

The traveling substrate carried out into the atmosphere is wound up by two pairs of reels 501 and ICs of the carp 220 via the deflector roll 3. In order to continuously unwind the running board 9 times, a new board 1' is attached to the other glue 6Vc of the uncoiler 19, and after the speed of the running board 1 is synchronized with the speed of the running board 1 by a drive device (not shown). , the traveling board IK is moved by the operation of the pressing roll 21.
Both substrates 1, 1' are bonded together using double-sided tape or the like that is pressed onto the new substrate 1'. Further
VcIli at the same time when glued? The TWfr machine 22 cuts the old board 1, and only the new board 1' is passed through. Similarly, the other glue 5 of the coil 220 on the take-up sheet is pasted with new double-sided tape, etc., and the running board 1 is glued by the rear pressing roll 2111C synchronized with the running board 1, and cut at the same time as adhesion. The new reel 5 is cut by the machine 22 cutting the running board 1.
Start winding it up.

On the other hand, during vapor deposition, as shown in FIG. This is done by spreading in the width direction of the substrate and reaching the substrate 1 with υ restricted. The vapor deposition material 8 evaporated at this time is also troughed to the edge mask 11 and the channel 17, but the inner surface of each is kept at a temperature higher than the melting point of the vapor deposition material by the radiant heat of the vapor deposition material storage container 9, so the vapor deposition material becomes a liquid. It is refluxed into the storage container 9.

The amount of the vapor deposition material 8 consumed by vapor deposition is supplied by the vapor deposition material feeding device shown in FIG. 2, which comprises a vapor deposition material receiving hopper 25, a pallet 227, a supply hopper 26, and a fixed quantity feeder 24 such as a screw feeder. That is, first, a certain amount of vapor deposition material 8 is put into the receiving hopper 25, and then the inside of the receiving hopper 25 is maintained at a predetermined degree of vacuum with the vacuum pump 28, and then the pulp 27 is opened and the content inside the receiving hopper 25 is transferred to the supply hopper 26. The vapor deposition material 8 is moved. After the movement, the pulp 27 is closed and the vacuum pump 28 is stopped, and the above operation is repeated again when the amount of vapor deposition material 8 in the supply hopper 26 reaches the lower limit filc. During this period, the quantitative feeder 24 continuously withdraws the vapor deposition material 8, so that a constant amount of the vapor deposition material 8 in the vapor deposition material storage container 9 is always secured.

It should be noted that the amount of newly introduced vapor deposition material is very small. However, since it contains impurities such as oxides, it accumulates inside the storage container and causes a problem of lowering the evaporation rate. Therefore, a weir 23 is provided at one end of the storage container, and the deposition material is introduced outside the weir 23. By introducing the vapor deposition material 8 from the port 18, impurities are removed 2
It is designed so that the high-purity vapor deposition material accumulates on the outside of the weir 23 and passes under the weir 23.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, it is now possible to perform continuous vapor deposition on paper, f-) snack film, etc., which was conventionally performed only by a patch method, greatly improving the operating rate and reducing production costs compared to conventional IA can be reduced to 1/3. In addition, in the case of a patch method, even in high-mix, low-volume production, the same patch work must be performed, resulting in poor operating efficiency.However, according to the present invention, small lots and large lofts can be connected and deposited continuously, which further improves operating efficiency. It is expected that this method will improve the production schedule, and at the same time, it is possible to make the production schedule free. Furthermore, because the winding is done in the atmosphere, instruments can be easily installed, quality control is easy, and the yield rate of the vapor deposited material is high, conversely speaking, the work to remove the vapor deposited material inside the equipment is reduced by 1. It can also be expected to contribute to improved operability and maintainability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional side view showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged sectional view taken along the direction of arrows in FIG. 1, and FIGS. FIG. 1.1'... Traveling substrate, 2... Vapor deposition chamber, 3... Deflector roll, 4... Cooling roll, 5... In!
j-le. 6... Unwinding reel, 2... Vapor deposition device, 8... Vapor deposition material, 9... Vapor deposition material storage container, 10... Heating device, 1
1... Edge mask, 12... Entrance side sealing device, 1
3... Outlet side sealing device, 14-V- device, 15a,
15b. 15C...Seal 0-/l/, 16a, 16b, 16
C... Pressure chamber, 17... Channel, 18... Vapor deposition material inlet, 19... Uncoiler, 20... Coiler, 2... Pressing roll, 22... Cutting machine. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] An uncoiler equipped with substrate adhesion and cutting means to carry the substrate into the sealing device, a coiler equipped with substrate bonding and cutting means and carried out the substrate from the sealing device, and a plurality of coilers partitioned by a set of three sealing rolls. It consists of a sealing device having a deflector roll for wrapping the substrate around the sealing roll in each pressure chamber, a channel and an edge mask between the cooling roll located above, and an external vapor deposition metal supply device at one end. 1. A continuous vacuum evaporation apparatus comprising: a evaporation chamber in which a long evaporation material storage container having a evaporation metal inlet is installed;