JPH05195952A - Cryopanel device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce required refrigerator capacity by providing a vacuum side chamber for gas communicatable to a vacuum chamber and in gas flow impedible structure so as to allow the cooling face, exposed to the vacuum chamber, to be closed onto the vacuum side chamber. CONSTITUTION:A vacuum side chamber 10 is provided in line with the vacuum chamber 13 of a cryopanel device through a cooling panel 8. The vacuum chamber 13 is exhausted by a diffusion pump 14 and a rotary pump 15. At the exhaust time of the vacuum chamber 13, the cooling face of the cooling panel 8 is half opened to exhaust also the vacuum side chamber 10. Upon reaching a certain degree of vacuum, refrigerant cooled by a refrigerator is circulated onto the cooling face so as to suck the residual gas in the vacuum chamber 13 and vacuum side chamber 10. At this time, it is desirable to operate a turbo- molecular pump 11 and a rotary pump 12 from the viewpoint of increasing vacuum exhaust speed. When the degree of vacuum is saturated to the fixed value, the cooling face of the cooling panel 8 is turned toward the vacuum side chamber 10 to cut off its communication with the vacuum chamber 13.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an auxiliary evacuation device using a method of exposing a cooling surface in a vacuum to trap gas molecules in order to obtain a high vacuum.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a conventional vapor deposition apparatus using a cryopanel. As shown in FIG. 4, the conventional cryopanel device mainly includes a refrigerator 1 and a cooling panel 2, and a liquid or gas cooled by the refrigerator 1 and having a temperature equal to or lower than the liquid nitrogen temperature is installed in a vacuum chamber through a pipe line 3. The cooling panel 2 made of metal is circulated.

The cooled surface of the panel 2 approaches the temperature of the cooling medium flowing inside. Therefore, of the gas molecules existing in the vacuum chamber 4, the gas condensed at the temperature or higher is captured on the surface of the cooling panel 2. Therefore, the vacuum chamber 4 reaches a high vacuum earlier than exhausting with the diffusion pump 5 and the rotary pump 6.

[0004]

However, in the conventional cryopanel device, the gas molecules once attached to the cooling surface are gasified again when the cooling is stopped, and the degree of vacuum in the vacuum device is lowered. It is necessary to continuously cool the panel while the device is in operation, which causes a problem of high running cost. Further, even when the apparatus is heated by the operation such as EB vapor deposition, it is necessary to suppress the rise in the temperature of the cryopanel, so a refrigerator capable of withstanding a considerably large heat load is required, and the facility cost is very high. There was also a problem.

In view of the above problems, the present invention has an object to provide a cryopanel which requires no running cost and requires little initial investment.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, a vacuum side chamber is provided which is separably connected to the vacuum chamber, and the cooling surface of the cryopanel is provided only when necessary. Exposed to the outside and can be separated from the vacuum chamber to the vacuum side chamber when unnecessary, one side of the isolation wall is used as a cooling surface, and the cooling surface is heated when the vacuum side chamber is isolated and sealed. By doing so, the conventional problem is solved by the cryopanel device having a configuration in which the adsorbed gas is released, the released gas is exhausted, and the cooling surface is regenerated.

[0007]

By the above means according to the present invention, the gas adsorbed and frozen on the cooling surface of the cryopanel in the vacuum chamber can be released to the vacuum side chamber which is separated from the vacuum chamber as needed, and the cryopanel is in the meantime. Even if the cooling is stopped or the cooling capacity is lowered, the degree of vacuum in the vacuum chamber is not lowered. Further, by exhausting the vacuum side chamber, the surface of the cryopanel is regenerated, a clean surface appears, and the gas can be efficiently adsorbed to the cooling surface again in the vacuum chamber.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A cryopanel device according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a vapor deposition apparatus equipped with a cryopanel device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the cryopanel device includes a refrigerator 7, a cooling panel 8, a pipe line 9, a vacuum side chamber 10, a turbo molecular pump 11, and a rotary pump 12.

The vacuum side chamber 10 is connected to a vacuum chamber 13, and the vacuum chamber 13 includes a diffusion pump 14 and a rotary pump 1.
Exhausted by 5. When the vacuum chamber 13 is evacuated, the cooling surface of the cooling panel 8 is in the state of being opened inward, and the vacuum side chamber 10
Is also exhausted.

When the degree of vacuum reaches a certain degree, the cooling medium having the liquid nitrogen temperature cooled by the refrigerator 7 begins to circulate on the cooling surface and adsorbs the gas remaining in the vacuum chamber 13 and the vacuum side chamber 10. At this time, it is desirable to operate the turbo molecular pump 11 and the rotary pump 12 in order to increase the evacuation speed.

When the degree of vacuum is saturated to a certain value, the cooling surface of the cooling panel 8 faces the vacuum side chamber 10 and the vacuum chamber 13 and the vacuum side chamber 10 are separated from each other. Then, the refrigerator 7 is stopped, and the cooling surface is heated by the heater embedded in the cooling panel 8 to degas. The released gas is exhausted by a turbo molecular pump.

Next, when it is necessary to exhaust the vacuum chamber 13,
The refrigerator 7 is operated to lower the degree of vacuum in the vacuum side chamber 10 below the degree of vacuum in the vacuum chamber 13, and then the cooling panel 8 is rotated to connect the vacuum chamber 13 and the vacuum side chamber 10.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the cooling panel 8 shown in FIG. A cooling pipe 17 through which a low-temperature refrigerant flows and a heater 18 are attached to the cooling surface of the cooling panel 8, and an adsorbent such as zeolite is coated on the surface by thermal spraying. The cooling panel 8 is rotated by a driving machine 19, and an O-ring 20 is used to rotate the vacuum chamber 13 and the vacuum side chamber 10.
Can be sealed and isolated.

With such a structure, gas is rapidly adsorbed when the cooling surface faces the vacuum chamber 13, and an exhaust speed that cannot be reached by the diffusion pump alone is obtained. Further, the adsorbed gas is promptly released by the action of the heater 18 in the vacuum side chamber 10 and can be prepared when the next evacuation is required.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a cryopanel device showing a second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 2
Reference numeral 1 is a vacuum chamber, 23 is a vacuum side chamber, 22 is a cooling panel, the cooling panel 22 has a hollow interior, and is filled with liquid nitrogen 26. The vacuum side chamber is constituted by a bellows 24, and the cooling panel 22 can be put in and taken out between the vacuum side chamber 23 and the vacuum chamber 21. The vacuum chamber 21 and the vacuum side chamber 23 can be isolated by a partition valve 25.

When high speed evacuation of the vacuum chamber 21 is required, the cooling panel 22 is filled with liquid nitrogen to adsorb the gas, and when it is no longer needed, the bellows 23 is stretched to cool the cooling panel 2.
2 is stored in the vacuum side chamber 23, and the gate valve 25 is closed.

Once the cooling panel 22 has adsorbed the gas, it is necessary to fill the cooling panel 22 with liquid nitrogen 26 whenever the cooling panel is exposed to the vacuum chamber 21. However, once the cooling panel 22 is housed in the vacuum side chamber 23, it is not necessary to supply liquid nitrogen. Vacuum chamber 2
After exhausting 1 at high speed, the gas adsorbed on the cooling panel 22 is released by evaporation of the liquid nitrogen 23 in the vacuum side chamber 23, but does not affect the vacuum degree of the vacuum chamber 21.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the vacuum side chamber which can be isolated is provided in the vacuum chamber, the cooling surface of the cryopanel is exposed to the vacuum chamber only when necessary, and is separated from the vacuum chamber to the vacuum side chamber when unnecessary. Since it is possible to realize such a structure, it is possible to realize a cryopanel capable of vacuum evacuation at high speed with a small refrigerator capacity. That is, the present invention realizes an auxiliary exhaust device that has a small initial investment cost and running cost and has a great effect of enabling high-speed vacuum exhaust.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a vacuum vapor deposition device in which a first embodiment of a cryopanel device of the present invention is installed.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the panel device of the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a vacuum vapor deposition device equipped with a conventional cryopanel device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 7 Refrigerator 4, 13 Vacuum chamber 10 Vacuum side chamber 8, 22 Cooling panel

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum-side chamber is provided, which is connected to a vacuum chamber so that gas can flow therethrough and has a structure capable of closing the flow of gas.
A cryopanel device having a structure in which a cooling surface exposed to the vacuum chamber can be sealed in the vacuum side chamber. 2. A vacuum-side chamber is provided which is connected to the vacuum chamber so that gas can flow therethrough and has a structure capable of closing the flow of gas.
A cryopanel device in which a cooling surface is formed on a surface of a partition valve plate that seals the vacuum chamber and the vacuum side chamber. 3. A vacuum chamber which is connected to a vacuum chamber so that gas can flow therethrough and which can close the flow of gas, is provided with a vacuum evacuation device, and the cooling surface exposed to the vacuum chamber is provided. A cryopanel device having a structure capable of being sealed in the vacuum side chamber and having a structure in which the temperature of the cooling face is raised when the cooling face is sealed in the vacuum side chamber. 4. The cryopanel device according to claim 3, wherein the temperature of the cooling surface is raised by a heater attached to the cooling surface. 5. The cryopanel device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein an adsorbent is applied to the cooling surface.