JPH0549751B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in a mass-produced glow discharge decomposition device.

Recently, photoelectric components made of amorphous (non-crystalline) materials such as amorphous silicon (hereinafter abbreviated as a-Si) have been used for electrophotographic photoreceptors, solar cells, optical sensors, etc., and have excellent photoelectric properties.
It has the advantage of efficiently producing an amorphous film and is attracting a lot of attention. For example, in the field of electrophotographic photoreceptors, a-Si is used as a photocarrier generating layer,
By using a glow discharge decomposition apparatus for film formation, high quality photoreceptors have been obtained.

However, in mass-produced glow discharge decomposition equipment that forms films on multiple substrates in one operation,
Not only is the introduced gas inefficiently used, but the amount of gas ejected to each substrate is uneven, resulting in differences in quality between individual photoconductors, resulting in a decrease in manufacturing yield and There is a problem that the reliability of the system is lost.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, in a conventional mass-produced glow discharge decomposition device using a capacitively coupled glow discharge method, a glow discharge electrode plate 2 of a predetermined shape is formed in one reaction chamber 1, and the electrode plate 2 is arranged in a straight line. A plurality of photoconductor drums 3 lined up each have a gas ejection section 4a, 4.
b, 4c, 4d and suction parts 5a, 5b, 5c, 5
d, and is rotated while facing the electrode plate 2, and furthermore, an a-Si layer is formed on the electrode plate 2 and the photoreceptor drum 3 by the high frequency power source 6. It had been.

However, according to the mass-produced device described above, the electrode plate 2 occupies its own space within the reaction chamber 1, and as a result, the volume of the reaction chamber 1 becomes relatively large compared to the number of drums. Extra gas had to be introduced into the tank.

In addition, from the gas introduction section 7 to each gas ejection section 4
Since the distances from a to 4d are different, depending on the gas flow rate and the shape of the gas piping, the same amount of gas is not necessarily ejected from each gas ejection part 4a to 4d, and as a result, the drums in the reaction chamber The surrounding gas density and film formation speed differ between a-
There were differences in quality between drums, such as the thickness of the Si layer and the amount of doping.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to improve the utilization efficiency of the introduced gas, make the amount of gas ejected to each substrate approximately equal, and eliminate uneven discharge of the ejected gas. It is an object of the present invention to provide a mass-produced glow discharge decomposition device that can make the quality of the layer uniform and improve the manufacturing yield and reliability of the amorphous layer.

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object,
Inside a cylindrical reaction chamber into which the amorphous layer forming gas is introduced, a cylindrical first circumferential plate and a second cylindrical circumferential plate each having a large and small diameter are arranged concentrically with the reaction chamber,
A cylindrical gas suction cylinder is disposed at the center of the concentric circles, and a plurality of cylindrical substrates each having an amorphous layer formation surface are arranged in the concentric circles between the second circumferential plate and the gas suction cylinder. The diameter of the gas passage holes provided in the second circumferential plate is made smaller than that of the gas passage holes in the first circumferential plate, or the number of holes is increased to supply gas more evenly on the second circumferential plate. and a mass-produced type in which the reaction chamber, the second circumferential plate, and the first circumferential plate are made to have the same potential as one electrode, the gas suction cylinder is used as the other electrode, and a glow discharge is generated between the two electrodes. A glow discharge decomposition device is provided.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail by taking as an example a glow discharge decomposition apparatus for forming an a-Si layer on a photoreceptor drum.

FIG. 2 shows a cylindrical reaction chamber 9 in a mass-produced glow discharge decomposition device using a capacitive coupling method for layering an a-Si layer on eight photoreceptor drums 8 in one operation. 1 is a cylindrical external electrode plate having a triple structure, and 11 is a gas suction tube that serves as a cylindrical internal electrode plate. Both 10 and 11 are arranged concentrically.

The external electrode plate 10 consists of a second circumferential plate 12 from which gas is ejected from the inside, a first circumferential plate 13 through which gas is diffused, and a circumferential plate 14 for the circumferential wall constituting the outer wall of the reaction chamber 9. (not shown) are arranged successively at intervals.

It is preferable that the circumferential plate 14 also serves as the outer wall of the reaction chamber 9, since it eliminates the need for space for electrodes, allows the volume of the reaction chamber 9 to be small, and improves the utilization efficiency of the introduced gas. Incidentally, it is not necessary to replace the entire peripheral wall of the reaction chamber 9 with the peripheral plate 14, and it may be replaced within a range where the influence caused by the generation of excess glow discharge can be ignored.

Between the second circumferential plate 12 and the gas suction tube 11,
Eight photoreceptor drums 8 are arranged so as to be located at each vertex of a regular octagon, and each photoreceptor drum 8 is configured to be rotationally driven.

The electrode plates 11, 12, 13, and 14 are electrically connected to have the same potential, which is applied from an external high-frequency power source (not shown). This results in
Glow discharge occurs between the second circumferential plate 12 and the surface of the photoconductor drum 8 and between the gas suction tube 11 and the surface of the photoconductor drum 8, and between the second circumferential plate 12 and the first circumferential plate 13,
In addition, since no glow discharge occurs between the circumferential plate 14 and the first circumferential plate 13, there is no wasteful consumption of power.
In addition, a uniform high-frequency electric field is generated inside the reaction chamber 9 without disturbing the original glow discharge generated between the second circumferential plate 12, gas suction cylinder 11, and photoreceptor drum 8.

The introduction path of the a-Si layer forming gas into the reaction chamber 9 is an introduction pipe 1 in which the same gas supply source (not shown) is branched into four through a common pipe (not shown).
5, each of the introduction pipes 15 is perpendicular to the central axis of the reaction chamber 9, and four introduction ports 1 are provided through the peripheral plate 14 so as to divide the circumference of the reaction chamber 8 into four equal parts.
6, respectively.

An insulating ring 17 is connected to the end of the introduction tube 15 where it is connected to the introduction port 16, so that the peripheral plate 14 and the introduction tube 15 are insulated.

In the second circumferential plate 12 and the first circumferential plate 13, a large number of jet holes 18 and diffusion holes 19, which are gas passage holes, are provided uniformly throughout the respective circumferential surfaces. Both the ejection hole 18 and the diffusion hole 19 are circular;
It may be any shape such as a square, and the diameter or size of each hole and the number of holes are such that the a-Si layer forming gas introduced into the reaction chamber 8 via the introduction pipe 15 is The setting may be appropriately set so that the gas is sufficiently diffused and is supplied substantially uniformly over the entire surface of the second circumferential plate 12 when passing through the second circumferential plate 12 . For example, when the ejection hole 18 and the diffusion hole 19 are circular, the hole diameter of the ejection hole 18 is set to be smaller than that of the diffusion hole 19, with the hole diameter of the ejection hole 18 being in the range of 0.5 to 2 mm, and the hole diameter of the diffusion hole 19 being in the range of 1 to 4 mm. It is preferable to do so. Further, it is preferable to provide more jet holes 18 than diffusion holes 19; for example, the number of jet holes 18 is five.
It is preferable that they are provided uniformly over the entire surface of the second circumferential plate 12 at intervals of mm to 1 cm.

In this way, the a-Si layer forming gas introduced into the reaction chamber 9 through the introduction pipe 15 diffuses significantly through the second circumferential plate 12, so that it is directed from the second circumferential plate 12 toward the central axis of the reaction chamber 9. Once, a substantially equal amount of gas was supplied over the entire circumferential surface and exposed to glow discharge.

On the other hand, a plurality of suction holes 20 are provided through the cylindrical gas suction tube 11 over its entire circumferential surface. It is desirable that the suction holes 20 have the same hole diameter and density as the jet holes 28. As shown in FIG. 3, the gas suction tube 11 has a gas suction tube 21 connected to a gas suction rotary pump (not shown) introduced from above or below, and an open end of the gas suction tube 21. 22 is located at the central axis of the gas suction tube 11, the residual gas is evenly sucked inward from the suction hole 20 of the gas suction tube 11 over its entire circumferential surface.

In this way, when gas is sucked from the cylindrical gas suction cylinder 11 located at the center of the reaction chamber 8, a uniform high-frequency electric field is generated in the glow discharge area, and all the photoreceptor drums 8 in the reaction chamber 9 are There is a uniform gas flow around the area, and a homogeneous a
-A Si layer will be formed.

Furthermore, in order to blow out the gas introduced into the reaction chamber 9 from the second circumferential plate 12 in a more diffused state,
It is also possible to provide more than one first circumferential plate 13 for gas diffusion.

As described above, according to the mass-produced glow discharge decomposition apparatus of the present invention, which forms films on multiple substrates in a single operation, in addition to increasing the utilization efficiency of the introduced gas, the glow discharge area becomes a uniform high-frequency electric field. , and a uniform gas flow condition is created around each substrate, resulting in the formation of a homogeneous amorphous layer on each substrate, which significantly improves the manufacturing yield and provides a highly reliable and excellent An amorphous layer is obtained.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the examples, but can be applied to any glow discharge decomposition device that is equipped with an electrode plate for glow discharge inside and forms an amorphous layer on a plurality of substrates. Those skilled in the art will readily understand that.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional mass-produced glow discharge decomposition device, Fig. 2 is a broken sectional view of a reaction chamber used in an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a gas suction mechanism of the present invention. It is. 3, 8...Photosensitive drum, 10...External electrode plate,
11... Internal electrode plate, 12... Second peripheral plate, 13...
...1st circumferential plate, 14... circumferential plate.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Inside the cylindrical reaction chamber into which the amorphous layer forming gas is introduced, a first cylindrical chamber having a large and small diameter is provided.
A circumferential plate and a second circumferential plate are arranged concentrically with the reaction chamber, and a cylindrical gas suction tube is disposed at the center of the concentric circle. ,
A plurality of cylindrical substrates each having a surface on which an amorphous layer is formed are arranged concentrically, and the diameter of the gas passage hole provided in the second circumferential plate is made smaller than that of the gas passage hole in the first circumferential plate. Alternatively, the number of holes may be increased to supply gas more evenly on the second circumferential plate, and the reaction chamber and the second circumferential plate may be
A mass-produced glow discharge decomposition device in which a circumferential plate and a first circumferential plate are made to have the same potential and serve as one electrode, and generate glow discharge.