JPH04364406A - Monitor glass exchange device of optical type thick-film monitor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent suction of monitor glasses without restricting an optical- type thick-film monitor and a device in a monitor glass exchange device which is in a system for housing the monitor glasses in a pile. CONSTITUTION:A title item is provided with a loading cartridge 31 which houses a number of monitor glasses in a pile and monitor glasses Gm within a loading cartridge 31 are taken out from the lowest portion one by one and then are placed at the monitor position. Then, a clearance formation member 40 with a specified thickness is fixed to an outer-peripheral portion on upper surface of the monitor glasses Gm which are housed in a pile within the loading cartridge 31.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a replacement device for replacing a monitor glass in an optical film thickness monitor for monitoring in real time the film thickness of a substrate formed by a vacuum film forming apparatus using a monitor glass. .

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, this type of optical film thickness monitor consists of a projector, a mirror box, a monitor glass, a light receiver, a measuring instrument body, etc., and the monitor glass is mounted in a vacuum chamber near the center of rotation of a substrate jig dome. Place the monitor at a position where the same film forming conditions as the substrate inside can be obtained, irradiate the monitor glass with detection light from the projector, reflect or transmit it, and detect changes in the amount of reflected or transmitted light with the receiver. There is a known method for measuring film thickness.

[0003] By the way, in the case where a large number of films are layered on the substrate, in order to be able to monitor the thickness of each film, the optical film thickness monitor as described above uses a plurality of layers. A monitor glass exchange device is provided that accommodates a monitor glass and sequentially exchanges the monitor glass for each film formation. In recent years, there has been a tendency for the number of layers to be deposited to become more multilayered, and as a result, the number of required monitor glasses has increased, so monitor glasses that can accommodate a large number of monitor glasses in a limited space are being developed. A replacement device is required, and such a monitor glass replacement device has a storage section that stores a large number of monitor glasses in a stack, and takes out the monitor glasses in the storage section one by one starting from the lowest one and moves them to the monitor position. It is known that it is arranged in

0004

However, in the monitor glass replacement device of the type described above which stores monitor glasses in a stacked manner, the polished and cleaned monitor glass cannot be deposited under the same film-forming conditions as the substrate in the vacuum chamber. Since the monitor glasses are arranged in the obtained monitor position, the monitor glasses are stacked in the housing part and are maintained in a vacuum heated state. Therefore, there is a problem in that the monitor glasses stick to each other and cannot be peeled off, making it impossible to take them out one by one.

[0005] To solve this problem, it has been proposed to make one side of the monitor glass frosted to prevent the monitor glasses from adhering to each other. However, in this case, one side is frosted glass, so when monitoring the film thickness with an optical film thickness monitor, transmitted light cannot be used and there is a restriction that only reflected light is used for monitoring. Furthermore, when monitoring using this reflected light, if there is even a slight change in the monitor position of the monitor glass, the reflected light may not be received by the receiver, making it impossible to accurately measure the film thickness. The requirements for mechanical precision become stricter, making it difficult to apply to large-scale equipment.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a monitor glass replacement device of a type in which monitor glasses are stacked and housed, to avoid restrictions on optical film thickness monitors and devices. The purpose is to prevent monitor glasses from adhering to each other without causing any damage.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the solution taken by the present invention has a storage section for storing a large number of monitor glasses in a stacked manner, and the monitor glasses in the storage section are placed at the lowest end. The present invention is based on a monitor glass replacement device for an optical film thickness monitor that takes out each sheet one by one and places them at the monitor position. A gap forming member having a predetermined thickness is fixed to the outer periphery of the upper surface of each monitor glass stacked and housed in the housing section.

[0008]

[Function] According to the above structure, in the present invention, a gap forming member having a predetermined thickness is fixed to the outer periphery of the upper surface of each monitor glass, so that the monitor glasses stacked and stored in the housing part are mutually connected to each other. have a gap between them by the thickness of the gap forming member. Therefore, even when kept in a vacuum heated state, the monitor glasses do not stick to each other, making it easy to take out the monitor glasses in the storage section one by one starting from the lowest one, and the monitor glass replacement device is activated. time reliability can be improved. Furthermore, since it is not necessary to use frosted glass on one side of the monitor glass, when monitoring the film thickness with an optical film thickness monitor, the film thickness can be monitored using both reflected light and transmitted light.

Furthermore, since the gap forming member is fixed to the outer periphery of the upper surface of the monitor glass, it does not obstruct the path of light when monitoring the film thickness with the optical film thickness monitor. Furthermore, since the lower surface of the monitor glass remains a polished glass surface, when the monitor glass is placed at the monitor position, the gap forming member does not get in the way and the monitor glass can be stably seated at the monitor position. Therefore, highly accurate film thickness measurements can be maintained at all times, and film thickness measurements using an optical film thickness monitor can be performed with high precision and stability.

0010

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 6 show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a dome-type vapor deposition apparatus, which is a film forming apparatus. In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is a vacuum chamber. Although not shown, an evaporation source as a film-forming material supply source consisting of an electron gun and a crucible is arranged on the inner bottom wall. Further, in the upper part of the vacuum chamber 1, for example, four substrate holders are arranged so as to be able to revolve around a vertical axis at the center of the vacuum chamber 1 and to be able to rotate around an inclined central axis perpendicular to the vapor deposition source. ing. Each substrate holder holds a plurality of substrates on which a film is to be formed by vapor deposition, and while this substrate holder rotates and revolves, the evaporation material evaporated from the crucible is flown upward to each glass substrate. We are trying to form an optical thin film on it.

Furthermore, an optical film thickness monitor 50 is provided for measuring the film thickness of the film formed on the substrate in real time. As shown in FIG. 6 in detail, this film thickness monitor 50 uses a monitor glass Gm placed in the flight region of the evaporated substance as a sample equivalent to a substrate, and measures the degree of reflection or transmission of the detection light irradiated onto it. This is an optical monitor that measures the film thickness to determine the film thickness, and includes a projector 51 that irradiates the monitor glass Gm with incident light Bi (detection light), and a light beam Br (measurement light) reflected from the incident light Bi and the monitor glass Gm. and a mirror box 56 that guides the direction change of the transmitted light Bt (measurement light).
a mirror box 70 for changing and guiding the light, a light receiver 61 for receiving the reflected light Br, a light receiver 71 for receiving the transmitted light Bt,
It includes a measuring device (not shown), a light emitter 51 and a light receiver 61.
are arranged opposite to each other with the mirror box 56 in between. The floodlight 51 has a light source 53, a pinhole plate 54, a chopper (not shown), and a condensing lens 55 arranged in this order in a case 52.In the mirror box 56, a pinhole plate 54 is arranged to have an appropriate diameter. A first reflecting mirror 57 that reflects the focused detection light toward the monitor glass Gm and a second reflecting mirror 58 that reflects the reflected light Br from the monitor glass Gm toward the light receiver 61 are arranged adjacent to each other. ing. An optical path tube 59 that forms an optical path for the incident light Bi and its reflected light Br to the monitor glass Gm is disposed below the mirror box 56, and the monitor glass Gm is disposed below the optical path tube 59. There is. In addition, the above mirror box 7
0 is placed below the monitor glass Gm at a position away from the evaporation source consisting of an electron gun and a crucible.
A third reflecting mirror 72 is arranged to reflect the light toward the light receiver 71.

The light receiver 61 is connected to the second reflecting mirror 5.
The optical path tube 6 is mounted on the mirror box 56 opposite to the optical path tube 8.
2, and a photoelectric conversion unit 65 joined to the optical path tube 62 via a filter 63. Similarly, the light receiver 71 also includes an optical path tube 73 mounted on the mirror box 70 facing the third reflecting mirror 72, and a photoelectric conversion unit 76 joined to the optical path tube 73 via a filter 74. have Each of the filters 63 and 74 includes an optical path tube 62,
It is removably loaded in the filter holding frames 64 and 75 attached to the filters 73, respectively, and allows only monochromatic light of a specific wavelength to pass from among the reflected light Br or transmitted light Bt from the monitor glass Gm due to its optical interference effect. . Each of the photoelectric conversion units 65 and 76 has a built-in photoelectric conversion element such as a phototube or photodiode (not shown) and an amplifier that amplifies its output, and outputs a signal current generated by the monochromatic light to a measuring instrument. It has become.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a circular through hole 2 is opened in the upper wall 1a of the vacuum chamber 1, and a cylindrical spacer is provided around the through hole 2. 3
is erected, and the upper end opening of this spacer 3 is hermetically closed with a lid member 4. An opening 5 passing through the lid member 4 is formed in the lid member 4, and although not shown in FIG. It is positioned and mounted so that the incident light Bi and the reflected light Br of the light beam pass therethrough. A glass 66 closes the open upper end of the opening 5. Further, the optical path tube 59 extends vertically in the vertical direction, and is fastened and fixed to the lower surface of the lid member 4 with bolts 67 with its upper end aligned with the opening 5 of the lid member 4. Therefore, the opening 5 of the lid member 4 and the optical path cylinder 59 form an optical path 60 for the incident light Bi and its reflected light Br on the monitor glass Gm.

An insertion hole 6 passing through the lid member 4 is formed at a predetermined distance from the opening 5 for forming the optical path 60, and an upper cylinder arranged concentrically with the insertion hole 6 is formed in the lid member 4. The lower end of the member 7 is inserted in an airtight manner, and the cylindrical member 7 is fixed to the lid member 4 by welding. A lower cylindrical member 8 is provided vertically on the lower surface of the lid member 4 and is disposed concentrically with the insertion hole 6 and therefore with the upper cylindrical member 7.
is bolted around the periphery. Upper and lower cylinder members 7
, 8, a rotary shaft 9 extending vertically parallel to the optical path 60 is rotatably inserted and supported so as to be slidable vertically by a predetermined stroke. A rotor 18 is movably attached to the lower end of the rotating shaft 9 by bolts 17.

On the other hand, the upper end of the rotating shaft 9 is connected to the upper cylindrical member 7.
The gear 12 protrudes from the upper end opening, and a gear 12 is attached to the upper end so as to rotate integrally and to move up and down integrally with a nut 12a. The lifting arm 1 is attached to the rotating shaft 9 below the gear 12.
The tip of the arm 10 is connected to a lifting actuator in a drive device 11 via a cam mechanism (none of which is shown), and the arm 10 is connected to a lifting actuator in a drive device 11 via a cam mechanism (none of which is shown). 9 so that it cannot fall, and moves the rotating shaft 9 and rotor 18 through a certain stroke (for example, 3 to 5 m) by operating the lifting actuator.
m).

Further, a gear 13 having the same number of teeth is meshed with the gear 12, and this gear 13 has six cam grooves 14a, 14a,
The drive pin 15 that meshes with the Geneva gear 14 is connected to the drive device 11.
The rotation shaft 9 is fixed to the output shaft of a rotary actuator 16 such as a motor, and the operation of the actuator 16 causes the Geneva gear 14 to rotate 1/6 of a turn, thereby intermittently rotating the rotation shaft 9 by 60 degrees. Then, by alternately operating the lifting actuator and the rotation actuator 16,
After the rotor 18 is rotated by 60 degrees around the rotation axis 9 while in the lowered position, it is raised by a certain stroke, and then rotated by an additional 60 degrees around the rotation axis 9 while in the raised position. The movement of descending by the same stroke as the upward movement is considered to be one cycle, and this cycle is repeated three times for one revolution of the rotor 18.

As shown in FIG. 4, the rotor 18 is a substantially disk-shaped member, and the outer periphery has a distance equal to the distance between the insertion hole 6 and the opening 5 in the lid member 4 from the center of rotation. A protrusion 18a having a constant width and protruding upward is formed at a predetermined position on the circumference of a constant radius, and this protrusion 18a
The top surface of is flat. Furthermore, three circular notch-shaped openings 19, 19, . The inner diameter is monitor glass G
It is set slightly smaller than the outer diameter of m (for example, 24.8 mm). The upper edge of each opening 19 is formed by a pair of cutout steps formed by cutting out the opposing upper edges along the circumferential direction of the rotor 18 in a stepped shape by approximately the thickness of the monitor glass Gm. A glass holding part 20 is formed, and by fitting the opposing peripheral edges of the monitor glass Gm into this glass holding part 20, the monitor glass Gm is attached to the upper surface of the protruding part 18a.
It is held flush with the upper surface by the rotor 18.

Further, the lower end of the lower cylinder member 8 is provided with upper and lower covers 21 and 23 in the form of flanges that cover the rotor 18.
are mounted and fixed, and the upper cover 21 is arranged above the rotor 18, and the lower cover 23 is arranged below the rotor 18. The upper cover 21 has a double structure consisting of a main body 21a and an intermediate deck portion 21b disposed below the main body 21a at a predetermined interval. The main body 21a and the intermediate deck portion 21b are substantially disk-shaped and are concentric with the rotating shaft 9, and their respective outer peripheral edges are integrally joined by a side wall 21c, which extends downward. An annular guide groove 22 is formed in the intermediate deck portion 21b to avoid interference with the protruding portion 18a of the rotor 18, and the protruding portion 18a rotates with its upper surface protruding above the intermediate deck portion 21b. It has become. On the other hand, the lower cover 23 is disk-shaped, and its outer peripheral edge is bent upward, and this bent portion is externally fitted to an extension of the side wall 21c on the outer periphery of the upper cover 21 and is mounted and supported. Further, openings 24 to 26 having the same diameter as the monitor glass Gm are formed in the main body 21a and the intermediate deck portion 21b of the upper cover 21 and the lower cover 23 at positions corresponding to the optical path 60, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 2, the three glass holding parts 20, 20, . . .
Three descending stations S1, S3, S separated by 0°
5, and further moves upward at three rising stations S2, S4, and S6 rotated by 60 degrees from each of them, and one of the three lowering stations S1, S3, and S5 is designated as a monitor station S5. , the optical path 60 is arranged corresponding to this monitor station S5. Therefore, the center of the optical path 60 intersects the orbit of the aperture 19 of the rotor 18 at the monitor station S5.

[0021] Furthermore, the three lifting stations S2,
Of S4 and S6, the station spaced 180° from the monitor station S5 in the rotational direction forward direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 2) is defined as a supply station S2;
On the upper surface of the upper cover 21 corresponding to this station S2, there are, for example, about 100 unused monitor glasses Gm, G.
A cylindrical supply cartridge 31 with a bottom is disposed as a housing section for stacking and accommodating the cartridges m, . . . . As shown in FIG. 7, on the upper surface of each of the monitor glasses Gm stacked and housed in the supply cartridge 31, there are gap forming members 4 made of heat-resistant resin at three positions equally spaced on the circumference of the outer periphery.
0 is fixed. The gap forming members 40 are each formed to have a predetermined thickness (for example, 0.1 mm), and when the monitor glasses Gm, Gm, . . . are stacked and stored in the supply cartridge 31, the monitor glasses G
A gap 41 having the above-mentioned predetermined thickness is formed between the two.

Furthermore, three descending stations S1, S
3. Among S5, 1 is adjacent to the front side in the rotational direction (counterclockwise direction in the figure) of the supply station S2 and is located on the rear side in the rotational direction (clockwise direction in the figure) from the monitor station S5.
Stations spaced apart by 20° are called return stations S1, and on the upper surface of the upper cover 21 corresponding to these stations S1 is a bottomed cylinder capable of stacking and storing about 100 used monitor glasses Gm, Gm,... A return cartridge 32 having a shape of 1.5 mm is disposed.

[0023] The supply and return cartridges 31, 3
2 is integrated by being joined at the side wall so that the respective insertion holes 34 and 36, which will be described later, are continuous in a series of circular arc shapes. A cartridge mounting section 27 is formed in the upper cover 21 by cutting out a portion corresponding to the return and supply stations S1 and S2 from the main body 21a to the intermediate deck section 21b in accordance with the bottom shape of both the cartridges 31 and 32. Both cartridges 31 and 3 are attached to this mounting part 27.
I am trying to attach the bottom part of 2. Further, on the side surface of the lower cylindrical member 8, the above-mentioned return and supply station S1 is provided.
, S2, the cartridge holding member 28 is screwed into the screw 29.
The lower surface of this holding member 28 has a spring receiving groove 28 into which the upper end of the coil spring 30 can be fitted.
a is formed. In addition, both cartridges 31 and 32
The upper end is closed by a lid 33, and the upper surface of this lid 33 has a spring receiving groove 33a into which the lower end of the coil spring 30 can be fitted.
is formed. Then, the cartridge mounting section 2
The holding member 2 holds both the cartridges 31 and 32 installed in the cartridge 7.
8 is pressed against and held against the cartridge mounting portion 27 by the expansion biasing force of the coil spring 30 between the cartridge mounting portion 27 and the cartridge mounting portion 27.

As shown in FIG. 5, the bottom wall of the supply cartridge 31 is provided with an arc-shaped insertion hole 34 through which the protrusion 18a (each glass holder 20) of the rotor 18 is inserted. Further, the supply cartridge 31 has an ejection opening 35 formed in the lower part of the side wall corresponding to the rear side in the rotational direction of the rotor 18, through which only the lowest monitor glass Gm in the cartridge 31 can be inserted horizontally and laterally. . Similarly, the bottom wall of the return cartridge 32 is opened with an arc-shaped insertion hole 36 through which the protrusion 18a (each glass holder 20) of the rotor 18 is inserted.
At the lower part of the side wall corresponding to the front side in the rotational direction of the rotor 18, a monitor glass Gm is slid horizontally and returned to the inside of the cartridge 32 at the same height as the ejection port 35 of the supply cartridge 31. An insertable return opening 37 is cut out.

During vapor deposition on the substrate, each time the film on the substrate is changed, the monitor glass G is changed accordingly.
Exchange m, Gm,... This monitor glass Gm, Gm
,..., the drive unit 11 causes the rotor 18 to cycle, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, each glass holder 20 is raised from the lowered position at the supply station S2, and the supply cartridge is replaced. 31 monitor glass G
The lowest monitor glass Gm is transferred to the glass holder 20 and held therein, and then the rotor 18 rotates to take out the monitor glass Gm from the outlet 35.
m is supplied to a monitor station S5 via stations S3 and S4. On the other hand, regarding the monitor glass Gm after use, the glass holder 20 is lifted up at the return station S1 by rotating the rotor 18 in the raised position from the raising station S6, which is one place before the return station S1. The monitor glass Gm is pushed into the inner bottom of the return cartridge 32 through the return port 37, and the monitor glass Gm is released from being held by the subsequent lowering of the rotor 18.

Furthermore, the three descending stations S1
, S3, and S5, the station adjacent to the rear side of the supply station S2 in the rotational direction (clockwise direction in FIG.
An opening 38 having the same diameter as the monitor glass Gm is formed in the main body 21a of the upper cover 21 corresponding to No. 3, and when the monitor glass Gm is stopped at the heating station S3, the monitor glass Gm is placed in the vacuum chamber 1. It is preheated to the same temperature as the substrate by exposing it to the inside.

[0027] The arrows drawn around the periphery of FIG. 2 and at the bottom of FIG. 5 indicate the movement of the rotor 18, with "ascending" being a rising state and "descending" being a descending state. Moreover, the white circle indicates the stop position.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

Before the vapor deposition process, the lid member 4 is removed in advance, and the upper and lower cylinder members 7, 8, the rotating shaft 9, the rotor 18, the covers 21, 23, the supply cartridge 31, the return cartridge 32, etc. are placed in a vacuum chamber. 1 Take it out. A large number of monitor glasses Gm and G are contained in this removed supply cartridge 31.
After storing the cartridges 31 and 32 with the surface on which the gap forming member 40 is fixed facing upward, the cartridges 31 and the returned cartridges 32 are placed in the cartridge mounting section 27 on the upper surface of the upper cover 21.
and is pressed and fixed by the urging force of the coil spring 30.

At this time, the supply and return cartridge 31
, 32 are integrated with each other, so just by attaching the bottom part to the cartridge mounting part 27, the insertion hole 3 in the bottom wall is inserted.
4 and 36 are positioned and set so as to match the annular guide groove 22 in the intermediate deck portion 21b of the upper cover 21, so that the cartridges 31 and 32 can be easily positioned with respect to the stations S2 and S1.

Next, contrary to the above, the cylindrical members 7, 8, rotating shaft 9, rotor 18, covers 21, 23, supply cartridge 31, return cartridge 32, etc. are inserted into the vacuum chamber 1, and the lid is closed. The vacuum chamber 1 is sealed with a member 4. After setting the substrate in the vacuum chamber 1, the inside of the vacuum chamber 1 is vacuumed by suction and exhaust, and the inside thereof is heated to be in a standby state for vapor deposition processing of the substrate.

In such a standby state, the drive device 11 operates to set the monitor glass Gm of the film thickness monitor 50 at the monitor position. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, in the initial state, the rotor 18 is in the lowered position;
The three glass holders 20, 20, . . . are all located at lowering stations S1, S3, S5, and one of them is stopped at return station S1. Since the movements of the three glass holders 20, 20, . . . are the same, the movement of one glass holder 20 whose movement start position is the return station S1 will be described here. That is, the rotor 18 starts one cycle of operation due to the operation of the drive device 11. First, the rotary actuator 16 is actuated to move the rotor 18 to 60 degrees while remaining in the lowered position.
The glass holding section 20 rotates, and the glass holding section 20 is moved to the return station S.
1 to supply station S2. Thereafter, the rotating shaft 9 rises together with the rotor 18 due to the operation of the elevating actuator, and as the rotor 18 rises, the glass holder 2
0 to the lowest monitor glass G in the cartridge 31
m fits into the rotor 18 from the rotational direction. In this state, the rotor 18 is rotated by 60 degrees while remaining in the raised position due to the operation of the rotary actuator 16. Due to this rotation, the lowermost monitor glass Gm is moved horizontally and laterally while being fitted and held in the glass holding part 20, and is taken out from the takeout port 35 of the supply cartridge 31. By taking out the monitor glass Gm, the monitor glasses Gm, Gm, . The glass holding part 2
When the monitor glass Gm held at zero is moved to the heating station S3 by the rotation of the rotor 18, the lifting actuator is activated and the rotating shaft 9 is lowered together with the rotor 18.
With this, one cycle of operation of the rotor 18 is completed. By stopping the movement of the rotor 18, the monitor glass Gm is held at the heating station S3 for a predetermined period of time. Since an opening 38 is formed in the upper cover 21 of this heating station S3, the monitor glass Gm is heated by the heat source in the vacuum chamber 1 through this opening 38, and its temperature rises to the same degree as the substrate. Incidentally, since the movement of the rotor 18 for the second and subsequent monitor glasses Gm is stopped for the time period during which the preceding monitor glass Gm is used for monitoring the film formation at the monitor station S5, the movement of the rotor 18 is stopped for the same time period when the monitor glass Gm that precedes it is used for monitoring the film formation at the heating station S3. It is stopped and held.

After stopping at heating station S3 for a predetermined period of time, rotor 18 resumes its second one-cycle movement in the same manner as described above by actuation of drive device 11. That is, the rotor 18 rotates 60 degrees while remaining in the lowered position,
The monitor glass Gm held by the glass holding part 20 moves from the heating station S3 to the next raising station S4. Next, after the rotor 18 is raised, it is rotated by 60° while remaining in the raised position. When the monitor glass Gm moves to the monitor station S5 due to this rotation, the rotor 18 descends, and the second one-cycle operation of the rotor 18 is thus completed. Note that at this time, the second monitor glass Gm is supplied to the heating station S3.

Monitor station S5 of the rotor 18
Due to the downward movement at the lower cover 2, the monitor glass Gm
3, and is exposed through the opening 26 to a region in which the vapor deposition material is ejected from the vapor deposition source. This completes setting the monitor glass Gm to the monitor position. After setting the monitor glass Gm, the vapor deposition source is heated in this state to perform the first vapor deposition process on each substrate. At the same time, the film thickness monitor 50 monitors the amount of the vapor deposition substance deposited on the monitor glass Gm, and when the film thickness becomes appropriate, the vapor deposition process is terminated. In this case, monitoring of the amount of vapor deposition substance adhering to the monitor glass Gm is performed using reflected light Br.
Depending on the type of film formation, etc., it is possible to selectively use the transmitted light Bt or the transmitted light Bt.

During this vapor deposition process, the monitor glass Gm
has been heated in advance at the heating station S3 and its temperature has risen to the same temperature as the substrate, so the monitor glass G
It is possible to make the characteristics of m and the substrate similar, and therefore,
Monitoring the adhesion characteristics of the vapor deposition substance to the monitor glass Gm with an optical monitor is equivalent to monitoring the same characteristics to the substrate, and can improve the film thickness controllability and accuracy of the substrate.

When the first vapor deposition process on the substrate is thus completed, the used monitor glass Gm is replaced with the next one. This exchange is performed by the rotor 18 resuming the third (last) cycle of movement in the same manner as described above. That is, due to the operation of the drive device 11, the rotor 18 rotates 60 degrees while remaining in the lowered position, and this movement causes the used monitor glass Gm held in the glass holder 20 to move from the monitor station S5 to the next ascending station. Move to S6. Next, after the rotor 18 is raised, it is rotated by 60 degrees while remaining in the raised position and moved to the original return station S1. By moving the return station S1 from the lift station S6 while keeping the rotor 18 in the raised position, the monitor glass Gm is horizontally slid and pushed into the inner bottom of the return cartridge 32 from the return port 37. Next, the rotor 18 descends, and the third one-cycle operation of the rotor 18 is thus completed. As the rotor 18 moves downward, the glass holding part 20 moves downward, but the monitor glass Gm remains in the cartridge 32, so that the monitor glass Gm is returned and transferred into the cartridge 32 and accommodated. . At this time, the second monitor glass Gm is supplied to the monitor station S5, and the third monitor glass Gm is supplied to the heating station S3.

After replacing the monitor glass Gm in this way, a second vapor deposition process is performed on the substrate in the same manner as described above while monitoring the film thickness using the new monitor glass Gm. Thereafter, in the same manner, the monitor glasses Gm, Gm, ... in the supply cartridge 31 are sequentially supplied to the monitor station S5, and while the used monitor glass Gm is returned and stored in the cartridge 32, a multilayer film is deposited on the substrate. I do. After the multilayer film deposition process on the substrate is completed, the used monitor glasses Gm, Gm, . . . are taken out from the vacuum chamber 1 together with the cartridge 32 after cooling.

Here, in the supply cartridge 31, a gap forming member 40 is formed on the top surface of each monitor glass Gm.
Since a plurality of monitor glasses Gm, Gm, .
is formed, which can prevent the monitor glasses from adhering to each other even in a vacuum heated state. Therefore, the lowest monitor glass Gm in the supply cartridge 31
It is possible to fit and hold the cartridge into the glass holding part 20, move it in the horizontal direction and take it out from the take-out port 35 of the supply cartridge 31 smoothly, and improve the reliability of the operation of the monitor glass exchange device. Can be done.

Furthermore, since the gap forming member 40 is fixed to the outer peripheral portion of the upper surface of the monitor glass Gm, the incident light Bi and its reflected light Br irradiated onto the monitor glass Gm are
Alternatively, the path of transmitted light Bt is not obstructed. Furthermore, when the monitor glass Gm is taken out from inside the supply cartridge 31 and held in the glass holding part 20, the monitor glass Gm
The lower surface of m will be seated on the glass holding part 20,
The gap forming member 40 fixed to the upper surface ensures that the monitor glass Gm is seated on the glass holding part 20 without interfering with it, and does not cause the monitor glass Gm to shift to the monitor position. Therefore, highly accurate film thickness measurement can be maintained at all times, and film thickness measurement using an optical film thickness monitor can be performed stably and with high precision.

Furthermore, the monitor glass Gm does not need to be made of frosted glass on one side, and the film thickness can be measured using the optical film thickness monitor using either the reflected light Br or the transmitted light Bt, making it suitable for large equipment. This is advantageous if you do so.

FIG. 8 shows a modification. In the same figure, 42
This is a gap forming member that replaces the gap forming member 40 in the above embodiment, and is formed in a ring shape, has a predetermined thickness, and is fitted to the outer periphery of the upper surface of the monitor glass Gm. The gap forming member 42 in this modification can also provide the same effects as in the above embodiment. Further, this gap forming member 42 is removably fitted to the monitor glass Gm, so that the gap forming member 42 is removably fitted to the monitor glass Gm.
After using it as a monitor, it can be removed from the monitor glass Gm and reused by fitting it into an unused monitor glass Gm.

Although the above embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to a vapor deposition apparatus, the present invention can also be applied to other vacuum film forming apparatuses other than the vapor deposition apparatus.

[0043]

As explained above, according to the monitor glass replacement device for an optical film thickness monitor according to the present invention, a predetermined thickness is formed on the outer periphery of the upper surface of each monitor glass stacked and stored in the storage section. Since the gap forming member having the above structure is fixed, it is possible to prevent the monitor glasses from adhering to each other, and it is possible to improve the stability and reliability of the device as a whole when the device is in operation.

Furthermore, since the optical film thickness monitor can measure the film thickness using both reflected light and transmitted light, it can be widely and easily applied regardless of the size of the device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part of a monitor glass replacement device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the horizontal direction.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part taken along line AA in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the rotor.

FIG. 5 is a developed view of the main parts of the exchanger developed along the center of conveyance of the monitor glass.

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a film thickness monitor.

FIG. 7 is a top view of the monitor glass.

FIG. 8 is a stacked view of monitor glasses showing a modified example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Vacuum chamber 31 Supply cartridge (accommodating part) 40 Gap forming member 42 Gap forming member 50 Film thickness monitor Gm monitor glass Bi Incident light Br Reflected light Bt Transmitted light

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical film having a storage section for stacking and accommodating a large number of monitor glasses, the monitor glasses in the storage section being taken out one by one starting from the lowest one and arranged at a monitor position. In the monitor glass replacement device for thick monitors, each of the monitor glasses stacked and housed in the housing section has a gap forming member having a predetermined thickness fixed to the outer periphery of the top surface thereof. Monitor glass replacement device for type film thickness monitor.