JPH05306466A - Plasma cvd apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the plasma CVD apparatus which is excellent in the heating performance of substrates, does not require the labor for maintenance and administration and is good in treatment quality. CONSTITUTION:This apparatus has an electrode member 30 and means for supplying reactive gases consisting of shower plates 40, etc., in the positions facing the surfaces of substrates 20 held on holding means, such as substrate holders 22 within a treating chamber 10. The apparatus has also light transmittable double windows 50 in the positions facing the rear surfaces of the substrates 20 on the wall surfaces of the treating chamber 10 and has heating lamps 60 adjacently to the light transmittable double windows 50 on the wall surface of the treating chamber 10. The substrates 20 in the treating chamber 10 are heated via the light transmittable double windows 50 by the radiation heat from the heating lamps 60.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plasma CVD apparatus, and more particularly to a plasma CV suitable for forming a thin film on a relatively large substrate by the plasma CVD method.
D device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a plasma CVD apparatus has been used for forming a thin film on a relatively small substrate such as a silicon substrate for semiconductor manufacturing, but in recent years, a thin film for a large area substrate such as a large liquid crystal plate has been used. It has also come to be used for formation. In addition, in the conventional plasma CVD apparatus, there were many batch-type apparatuses that perform a thin film forming process for every fixed number of substrates. In recent years, however, the substrate handling is automated and the substrates are sequentially fed into the processing chamber to form a thin film. A continuous apparatus for continuously performing treatment, heat treatment as its pretreatment and cooling treatment as its posttreatment has also been developed.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of a plasma CVD apparatus which has been conventionally used for producing a large liquid crystal plate or the like.
The substrate 1 made of glass or the like is a pair of left and right substrate trays 2.
Each of them is mounted on the
Is attached to a conveyer such as a conveyor. Board 1
While being attached to the substrate tray 2, they are sequentially and continuously fed into the processing chamber 3, and when the processing is completed, they are carried out of the processing chamber 3. Left and right substrate trays 2 in the processing chamber 3
The sheathed heater panel 4 is installed in the gap position of 1., and the heater panel 4 heats the substrate 1 from the back surface. Electrode members 6 and shower plates 5 are installed on the left and right outer sides of the substrate tray 2, respectively. A high frequency power source is connected to the electrode member 6, and a reaction gas is supplied to the space between the shower plate 5 and the electrode member 6, and a voltage is applied between the electrode member 6 and the substrate tray 2. Meanwhile, a thin film is formed on the surface of the substrate 1 by ejecting a reaction gas from the front surface of the shower plate 5 toward the substrate 1.

[0004]

However, since the conventional plasma CVD apparatus as described above uses the heater panel, there is a problem that the heating efficiency is poor and the handling is troublesome.

This means that the substrate is heated in a vacuum state in the processing chamber 3 of the plasma CVD apparatus. The heat transfer efficiency of the heater panel 4 is excellent in heat conduction,
Radiant heat transfer across a vacuum space has the characteristic that only low efficiency can be achieved. The board 1 and the board tray 2 are arranged with a certain gap between them and the heater panel 4 so that the board 1 and the board tray 2 can be smoothly moved by a conveyor or the like. , There is a gap. As a result, the heater panel 4 to the substrate 1
Therefore, the heat transfer to the heater is not performed well, and the heating efficiency becomes poor.

Further, when a thin film is formed by the plasma CVD apparatus, the thin film is attached to other than the surface of the substrate 1. As a matter of course, the above-mentioned thin film adheres to the heater panel 4 and its periphery. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly remove the thin film attached to the structural members in the processing chamber 3. On the other hand, the heater panel 4 is attached to an appropriate supporting member in the processing chamber 3, and the heater panel 4 is attached to the supporting member at a mounting position so that heat of the heater panel 4 does not escape to the outside from the supporting member. , Many slits and notches are formed. The thin film adheres to the inside of the slits or notches. It is relatively easy to remove the thin film attached to the flat surface, but it is very troublesome and time-consuming to remove the thin film attached even to the inside of the slits or notches. In particular, the entire work including the internal mechanism of the heater panel 4 has to be taken out from the inside of the processing chamber 3 to remove the thin film, resulting in a large loss of work time. In addition, if the thin film is not sufficiently removed, if the thin film falls off and adheres to the surface of the substrate 1 during the subsequent processing steps, the finish quality of the substrate 1 is greatly impaired.

Further, once the large heater panel 4 is cooled, it takes time to raise the temperature to a predetermined temperature again. Therefore, the above-described removal of the heater panel 4 and thin film removal work are performed. Then, until the next process can be started, a long temperature rising waiting time must be set,
The waste of working time and the waste of heating energy were large.

[0008] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems in the plasma CVD apparatus as described above, to provide a plasma CVD apparatus which has excellent substrate heating performance, requires less maintenance, and has good processing quality. To provide.

[0009]

A plasma CVD apparatus according to the present invention which solves the above-mentioned problems supplies an electrode member and a reaction gas to a position facing a surface of a substrate held by a holding means in a processing chamber. The light-transmitting double window is provided on the wall surface of the processing chamber facing the back surface of the substrate, and the heating lamp is provided adjacent to the light-transmitting double window outside the processing chamber.

The basic structure of the plasma CVD apparatus is the same as that of an ordinary apparatus, and a processing chamber capable of vacuum exhaustion is
An electrode member for applying a voltage for forming plasma, a reaction gas supply means for supplying a reaction gas forming plasma, and the like, and a holding means such as a substrate tray or a substrate holder for holding a substrate, It is installed in and out of the processing chamber by a transport mechanism such as a conveyor.

As the substrate, a glass substrate or other ordinary substrate material is used for the purpose of plasma CVD, and any reaction gas can be used depending on the type of thin film to be formed. When the substrate is held in a holding means such as a substrate tray and sent into the processing chamber, the substrate and the substrate tray may be in a vertically standing state or in a horizontally lying state. The structure of the holding means such as the substrate tray may be the same as that of a normal thin film forming apparatus.

As in the conventional plasma CVD apparatus, an electrode member and a reaction gas supply means are provided at positions facing the surface of the substrate held by the holding means in the processing chamber. The basic structure of electrode members and gas supply means
It may be similar to a normal device.

In the present invention, the light transmission double window is provided at a position facing the back surface of the substrate on the wall surface of the processing chamber, and the heating lamp is provided adjacent to the light transmission double window outside the processing chamber. Therefore, the heating of the substrate is performed by the irradiation light from the heating lamp passing through the light-transmissive double window and hitting the substrate or the holding means, and does not use a heater panel like the conventional device.

As the heating lamp, a heating lamp used in various ordinary heating devices is used, and a lamp having a high heating efficiency such as an infrared lamp is preferable. The light-transmissive material that composes the light-transmissive double window is a material that can transmit the irradiation light of the heating lamp well and that is excellent in hermeticity, mechanical strength, and heat resistance that can maintain a good vacuum condition in the processing chamber. Is preferred. Specifically, quartz glass or the like is used. The light-transmissive double window is a light-transmissive plate made of a light-transmissive material having a double structure on the inner surface side and the outer surface side of the processing chamber. It is desirable that at least the light transmitting plate on the inner surface side be detachable. The inner and outer light transmitting plates may be different in thickness and material.

A pair of left and right substrate holding means are configured to move in and out of the processing chamber at the same time, and the left and right substrate holding means hold substrates so that their surfaces face inward, and the electrode is provided at the center thereof. The members and the reaction gas supply means are installed so as to face the substrates on both sides, and further, light-transmitting double windows are provided on the wall surfaces of the processing chambers outside the left and right substrate holding means, and heating lamps are provided on the outside thereof. If arranged, the plurality of substrates attached to the left and right substrate holding means can be processed efficiently at the same time, and plasma CVD
It is possible to improve the processing efficiency of the device and downsize the equipment.

[0016]

According to the present invention, the substrate is heated by the heating lamp installed outside the processing chamber through the light-transmissive double window provided on the wall surface of the processing chamber, instead of the heater panel installed inside the processing chamber. Since the heating by the heating lamp is the heating by the radiant heat, even if there is a vacuum space with the substrate,
The heat transfer efficiency is not affected and the substrate can be heated efficiently and quickly.

Since there is no complicated structural portion such as the heater panel in the processing chamber, even if the thin film adheres to a member other than the substrate, the adhered thin film can be easily removed. In particular, as the light-transmissive material forming the light-transmissive double window, a material having a flat and smooth surface such as quartz glass can be used, so that the thin film can be removed very easily. Also,
Since the light transmissive material is a component having a relatively simple structure, it is easy to remove or replace it. Even if a thin film adheres to the light transmitting double window when forming a thin film on the substrate, by removing only the light transmitting plate on the inner surface side to which this thin film is attached and removing or replacing the thin film,
The work of removing the thin film can be simplified.

Since the heating by the heating lamp is started immediately after the lighting of the lamp, the work can be started as compared with the conventional heater panel which takes a long time to reheat after being cooled once. It can be performed quickly, the loss of work time for maintenance management can be shortened, and the utilization efficiency of the plasma CVD apparatus can be improved.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of the plasma CVD apparatus. The processing chamber 10 is provided with a vacuum exhaust port 12. The substrate 20 is held by the substrate holder 22, and is fed into the processing chamber 10 with the substrate holder 22 standing upright. The substrate holder 22 is attached to a conveying means such as a conveyor mechanism, but the conveying means is not shown. The pair of substrate holders 22
They are arranged near the left and right wall surfaces of the processing chamber 10, respectively.
The substrates 20 held by the left and right substrate holders 22 face each other toward the center.

Inside the left and right substrate holders 22, electrode members 30 are provided at positions facing the surfaces of the respective substrates 20.
And the shower plate 40 is installed. A large number of gas passage holes 42 are formed through the shower plate 40. In the space 44 formed on the front surface of the electrode member 30 and on the back surface of the shower plate 40, the gas supply pipe 46 is provided.
Are connected. The electrode member 30 includes a high frequency power source 32.
Are connected. Electrode member 30 and shower plate 4
It is insulated between 0. The reaction gas is the gas supply pipe 4
6 enters the space 44, passes through the gas passage hole 42,
Supplied towards 0.

Next, on the right and left outer sides of the substrate holder 22,
A light transmission double window 50 is provided on the wall surface of the processing chamber 10. The light transmission double window 50 is made of quartz glass or the like,
Inner and outer double light transmission plates 52 and 54 are attached.
The inner light transmitting plate 52 is removable. A heating lamp 60 is installed outside the light transmission double window 50. The heating lamp 60 is composed of a lamp light source and a reflecting plate, and the irradiation light of the heating lamp 60 is a light transmitting double window 50.
It contacts the back surface of the substrate holder 22 in the processing chamber 10 through.

In the plasma CVD apparatus having the above structure, the substrate 20 held by the substrate holder 22 is placed in the processing chamber 1
When the heating lamp 60 is turned on after the insertion into the 0, the radiant heat is supplied to the substrate holder 22 and the substrate 20 through the light transmitting double window 50, and the substrate holder 22 and the substrate 20 are heated and heated. When a voltage is applied to the electrode member 30 and a reaction gas is supplied from the gas supply pipe 46, plasma of this reaction gas is generated and supplied to the surface of the substrate 20 to form a thin film by so-called plasma CVD. become.

When a thin film is formed by the plasma CVD apparatus, the thin film adheres to a place other than the substrate 20. Then, the thin film also adheres to the inner surface of the light transmitting double window 50. In this case, of the light transmitting plates 52 and 54 forming the light transmitting double window 50, only the light transmitting plate 52 on the inner surface side is removed and replaced with a new light transmitting plate 52, or the removed light transmitting plate 52 is replaced. The thin film may be removed outside the processing chamber 10 and then attached again. The heating runf 60 can be freely exchanged and inspected outside the processing chamber 10.

[0025]

As described above, in the plasma CVD apparatus according to the present invention, the heating lamp for heating the substrate from outside the processing chamber is provided as the substrate heating means through the light transmitting double window provided on the wall surface of the processing chamber. As a result, the heating efficiency is higher, the maintenance management is easier, and the finished quality of the substrate is better than the conventional structure in which the heater panel is installed in the processing chamber.

That is, even if the processing chamber is in vacuum, if the radiation heat from the heating lamp is used, the heat transfer efficiency is good and the substrate can be efficiently and quickly heated. Further, even if the thin film adheres to the light transmissive double window, it is easy to remove the thin film from the light transmissive double window. If the thin films can be removed easily and reliably, the problem of these thin films falling off and adhering to the surface of the substrate can be solved, and the finished quality of the thin film formation on the substrate can be improved. When the heating lamp is turned on, the substrate is immediately heated, so that the temperature rising waiting time before the start of processing is shortened, the work efficiency is improved, and the energy consumption is also reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional structural view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional structure diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Processing Chamber 20 Substrate 22 Substrate Holder (Holding Means) 30 Electrode Member 40 Shower Plate (Gas Supply Means) 50 Light Transmission Double Window 60 Heating Lamp

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tomohiro Okumura 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A processing chamber is provided with an electrode member and a reaction gas supply means at a position facing a surface of a substrate held by a holding means, and light is transmitted to a position facing a back surface of the substrate on a wall surface of the processing chamber. A plasma CVD apparatus comprising a double window and a heating lamp provided outside the processing chamber and adjacent to the light transmitting double window.