JPH06101042A - Film forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase treating amt. per unit time by shortening the time to release the device to the air and to shorten the time for evacuation, and to simplify the constitution of an external carrying line of disks. CONSTITUTION:This device is equipped with a film forming room 1 wherein a film is formed on a disk 2 at the film forming position, an intake room 11 to exclusively take in the disk 2 provided on the film forming room 1 through a gate valve 12, a take-out room 13 to exclusively take out the disk 2 provided on the film forming room 1 through a gate valve 14, an axis 15 arranged in the film forming room 1, a carrying arm which is supported by the axis 15 freely rotatably and supports the disk 2 in the intake room 11 and carries the disk to the film forming position and then to the take-out room 13 after the film is formed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention improves the throughput per unit time (sput) in a mass production machine of ion beam sputtering equipment and simplifies the construction of an external disk carrying line. The present invention relates to a membrane device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional film forming apparatus is constructed as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 showing a schematic plan view and a front view. In these drawings, 1 is a film forming chamber for forming a film on a disk 2 at a film forming position, and 3 is two load locks provided adjacent to the film forming chamber 1 through a square gate valve 4. A chamber 5 is provided with two support shafts standing upright in the film forming chamber 1, and a conveying arm 6 is rotatably supported by both support shafts 5, respectively. The disk 2 is moved to the film forming position of the film forming chamber 1, and the disk 2 after film forming is moved to the load lock chamber 3.

Reference numeral 7 is a sputter ion source, 8 is a target which is provided in the film forming chamber 1 and is irradiated with an ion beam 9 from the ion source 7, and 10 holds the disk 2 which has been moved to the film forming position. It is a rotating disk holder.

Then, the lid of one of the load lock chambers 3 is opened to set the disk 2 before film formation, the lid is closed and vacuum exhaust is performed, one gate valve 4 is opened, and one transport arm is opened. The disk 2 is moved from the load lock chamber 3 to the film forming position by 6 and the disk 2 is held by the disk holder 10 to form a film. In the meantime, in the other load lock chamber 3, the disk 2 before film formation is set and evacuated.

After the film formation is completed, one transfer arm 6
The disk 2 after film formation is set in one load lock chamber 3 through one gate valve 4, the arm 6 is returned to the film formation chamber 1, the gate valve 4 is closed, and the load valve 4 is closed. The dock chamber 3 is leaked, the lid is opened, the disk 2 after film formation is taken out, and the disk 2 before film formation is set.

During this time, the gate valve 4 of the other load lock chamber 3 is opened, and the disc 2 is opened by the other transport arm 6.
Is transferred from the other load lock chamber 3 to the film forming chamber 1 and film formation is performed in the same manner as described above. After film formation is completed, the disk 2 after film formation is returned to the other load lock chamber 3 and the above process is repeated. To sequentially form films.

[0007]

In the case of the conventional film forming apparatus, the disk 2 after film formation and the disk 2 before film formation are taken in the respective load lock chambers 3 during the loading. There is a problem in that the drock chamber 3 is exposed to the atmosphere for a long time, and a large amount of moisture in the atmosphere is adsorbed on the inner wall of the rodlock chamber 3, so that the evacuation time becomes long. Moreover, since each load lock chamber 3 independently takes in and takes out the disc 2, it becomes difficult to construct an external disc carrying line.

Further, the number of transfer lock chambers 3 is equal to the number of transfer stations.
However, there is a problem in that the cost is high because the program 6 is required.
In consideration of the above points, the present invention shortens the open time of the container such as the load lock chamber to the atmosphere, shortens the vacuum exhaust time to increase the throughput per unit time, and the external disk transfer line. It is an object of the present invention to provide a film forming apparatus that simplifies the structure of (1), reduces the number of transfer arms, and makes it inexpensive.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a film forming apparatus of the present invention comprises a film forming chamber for forming a film on a disk at a film forming position and a gate valve in the film forming chamber. An intake chamber that is provided for exclusive use of the disk, an extraction chamber that is installed in the film formation chamber via a gate valve to exclusively take out the disk, a spindle provided in the film formation chamber, and rotatably supported by the support shaft. And a transfer arm that supports the disk in the intake chamber to move to the film formation position and moves the disk after film formation to the extraction chamber.

[0010]

The film forming apparatus of the present invention configured as described above is
Separated into an intake chamber for taking in the disc before film formation and an take-out chamber for taking out the disc after film formation, the time of exposure to the atmosphere in each chamber is reduced by half compared to the conventional one, and the vacuum The exhaust time is shortened and the throughput per unit time is increased. In addition, since the disk loading and unloading sections are separated, the structure of the external disk transport line is simplified, and the disk is loaded into the loading chamber, film deposition chamber, and unloading chamber by a single transport arm. Because of the shift to
The cost is reduced by half and the cost is reduced.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In these figures, the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 5 and 6 denote the same or corresponding ones, and 11 denotes the film forming chamber 1.
An intake chamber provided on the front side of one side through a square gate valve 12 for exclusively taking in the disk 2, 13 is a film forming chamber 1
A take-out chamber provided on the rear side of one side through a square gate valve 14 to take out the disc 2 for exclusive use, a reference shaft 15 standing on one side in the film forming chamber 1, and a support shaft 15 The transfer arm rotatably supports the disk 2 in the intake chamber 11 to support the disk 2 before film formation and moves to the film formation position, and transfers the disk 2 after film formation to the ejection chamber 13. An intake chamber 11, an extraction chamber 13, a transfer arm 16 and the like are provided on the other side of the film forming chamber 1 as well as the one side.

Reference numeral 17 is a mounting table of the film forming chamber 1, and 18 is a mounting table 1.
A transfer line which is arranged in parallel on both sides of 7 and moves, and 19 is a transfer robot which is provided between the mounting table 17 and the transfer line 18, and grips and collects the disk 2 before film formation on the transfer line 18. It is carried into the entrance chamber 11, and the disk 2 after film formation in the unload chamber 13 is gripped and transferred to the transfer line 18.

Then, the transfer robot 19 grips the pre-deposited disk 2 on one of the transfer lines 18 and sets it in the intake chamber 11. After the intake chamber 11 is evacuated, the gate valve 12 is opened and transferred. The disk 2 is transferred to the film forming chamber 1 by the arm 16, the gate valve 11 is closed, and the disk holder 10 holds the disk 2 to form a film at the film forming position. During this time, the intake chamber 11 is leaked, the next disk 2 before film formation is set, and the disk 2 is evacuated.

After the film formation, the transfer arm 16 holds the disk 2, the gate valve 14 is opened, the disk 2 is set in the evacuated extraction chamber 13, and the transfer arm 16 is set in the film formation chamber. Returning to 1, the gate valve 14 is closed, the take-out chamber 13 is leaked, the disk 2 is gripped by the transfer robot 19, and transferred to the transfer line 18. Next,
The transfer arm 16 holds the disk 2 in the intake chamber 11 and repeats the same operation as described above.

On the other hand, the disk 2 on the other carrying line 18
As for the above, by the same operation as described above, the disk 2 is alternately moved to the film formation position to perform film formation, and the disk 2 is moved. 6 now to take the disc 2 into the closed container
If it takes 2 seconds and 6 seconds to take out, in the conventional case, the inner wall of the container is exposed to the atmosphere for 12 seconds, but in the case of the present embodiment, the time of exposure to the atmosphere of the intake chamber 11 and the extraction chamber 13 is Half the time is 6 seconds.

FIG. 4 shows that the time of opening to the atmosphere has a great influence on the exhausting time. When a closed container having a volume of 3 liters was opened to the atmosphere for 6 seconds (painted in a square), it was opened to the atmosphere for 12 seconds. Shows the exhaust characteristics of the case (white square)
The time difference to reach the desired 2 × 10 ⁻⁴ Torr shown by the arrow is about 6 seconds, and this time difference greatly affects the throughput (sput) per unit time in the case of a mass production machine.

[0017]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. Since the film forming apparatus of the present invention is divided into an intake chamber 11 for exclusively taking in the disc 2 before film formation and an taking out chamber 13 for exclusively taking out the disc 2 after film formation, The time to be exposed to the air is reduced to about half that of the conventional one, the vacuum exhaust time is shortened, and the throughput per unit time can be increased. In addition, since the loading part and the unloading part of the disk 2 are separated, the structure of the external disk transport line can be simplified and the disk 2 can be loaded into the loading chamber 11 by one transport arm 16. Since the film forming chamber 1 and the take-out chamber 13 are moved to, the number of arms can be halved as compared with the conventional case, and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a cut side view of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view of one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exhaust characteristic diagram.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view of a conventional example.

6 is a cut front view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Deposition chamber 2 Disk 11 Intake chamber 12 Gate valve 13 Ejection chamber 14 Gate valve 15 Spindle 16 Transfer arm

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A film forming chamber for forming a film on a disk at a film forming position, an intake chamber provided in the film forming chamber via a gate valve for exclusive use of the disk, and a gate valve for the film forming chamber. A take-out chamber for exclusively taking out the disc, a support shaft provided in the film-forming chamber, and a support shaft rotatably supported by the support shaft, supporting the disc in the take-in chamber to the film-forming position. A film forming apparatus provided with a transfer arm for transferring a disk after film formation to the ejection chamber.