JPH06173000A - Continuous film forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely form a desired good-quality film each time by interposing a holder cleaning chamber between the loading and unloading chambers. CONSTITUTION:This multi-chamber sputtering device consists of a chamber 5 for loading a substrate 3, a chamber 6 to heat the substrate, a first film forming chamber 7, a protective film forming chamber 8, a chamber 9 to unload the coated substrate 3 and a chamber 10 for cleaning a holder 17 for the substrate 3. The holder is reversively sputtered by a cleaning means 37 in the chamber 10 with the holder 17 as a cathode and a housing as the anode to remove the film forming material depositing on the holder 17 to be cleaned. Since the cleaned holder 17 is used in the succeeding film forming stage, a thin film of specified quality is formed, the film forming material is not left on the holder, and hence an abnormal discharge is not generated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a continuous film forming apparatus for continuously carrying out a plurality of film forming processes on a substrate in a plurality of independent processing chambers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of continuous film forming apparatus, a multi-chamber type apparatus as shown in FIG. 5 is known (for example, Practical Vacuum Technology Review, 1990.11, Industrial Technology Co., Ltd.). See Service Center, page 637). In this case, a plurality of film formation processing chambers a, a, such as a load chamber d for taking in the substrate c, a heating chamber, a base film chamber and a functional film chamber are provided.
..., an unload chamber e for taking out the substrate c after film formation is sequentially arranged along the circumference of the central transfer chamber h, and is adjacent to the chambers d, a, e in the transfer chamber h. Room d,
A transfer arm i for transferring a substrate is provided to a and e. Then, the substrate c is taken in from the outside in the load chamber d, placed on the support base f, and then transferred to the film formation processing chambers a by the transfer arm i while being held by the support base f. After the film forming process, the unloading chamber e is taken out from the supporting table f to the outside, and the empty supporting table f is transferred to the loading chamber d by the transfer arm i. Then, the next substrate c is placed on the support base f and the above steps are repeated.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional continuous film forming apparatus, the film forming process is performed in each film forming chamber a while the substrate c is held by the support base f. However, several kinds of film forming materials will adhere to the support base f. Then, the support base f to which the film forming material is attached is sent to the load chamber d as it is, a new substrate c is placed thereon, and the film forming process on the new substrate c is continuously performed. In this case, in the film forming process on the substrate c in each film forming process chamber a, the film forming material attached to the support f and the film forming material in each film forming process chamber a differ due to the difference between the film forming material in each film forming process chamber a. In addition to the possibility of affecting the film quality of the film formation in a, the amount of adhesion to the support base f increases to such a degree that peeling from the support base f occurs, and the film formation material is deposited in each film formation processing chamber a. If peeled off, it may cause abnormal discharge.

In this case, since the support base f is paired with the transfer arm i and the continuous film formation process is performed,
Only the support base f cannot be replaced with a new one each time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to enable continuous film formation processing on a substrate and perform each film formation processing on a substrate support base. This is to be performed in a state where the film forming material is not attached.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 1 provides a load chamber in which a substrate is taken in and held by a support base, and the substrate held by the support base. A film formation processing chamber for performing film formation processing, an unload chamber for removing the substrate after the film formation processing from the support table and taking it out to the outside, and a support table in a state in which the substrate is held from the load chamber. It is premised that the apparatus further comprises a transporting means for transporting the film processing chamber and the unloading chamber in this order, and returning the empty pedestal in the unloading chamber to the loading chamber again to repeat the transporting. . Then, a support base cleaning chamber for cleaning the support base is provided in the transfer path of the support base from the unload chamber to the load chamber, and the support base cleaning chamber is used to form a film in the film formation processing chamber. A cleaning means for removing and cleaning the film-forming material attached to the surface of the support by the treatment is provided.

[0007]

With the above construction, in the invention according to claim 1,
The substrate is taken into the inside of the load chamber and held on the support base, and the support base holding the substrate is transferred to the film formation processing chamber by the transfer means and the film formation processing is performed in the film formation processing chamber. . Then, the substrate on which the film formation process is performed is transferred to the unload chamber while being held on the support table by the transfer means, and the substrate on which the film formation process is performed in this unload chamber is taken out to an empty state. The support table is transferred by the transfer means to the load chamber for taking in the next substrate. During the transportation up to the loading chamber, the cleaning means of the supporting base cleaning chamber removes and cleans the film forming material adhered to the surface of the supporting base by the film forming process in the film forming processing chamber. Therefore, in the film forming process of the next substrate loaded in the load chamber, the support table holding the substrate is in a clean state, and does not affect the film forming process in the film forming process chamber. A thin film having a predetermined film quality is surely formed. Moreover, the peeling of the film-forming material attached to the surface of the support is reliably prevented, and the abnormal discharge caused by the peeling is reliably prevented.

[0008]

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

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a multi-chamber sputtering apparatus as a continuous film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a transfer chamber in which a vacuum chamber is formed by a substantially cylindrical housing, and 2 is a transfer chamber. Is a transfer means that is disposed inside the transfer chamber 1 and transfers the disk-shaped substrate 3;
Reference numeral 4 is a conveyor means provided in an L shape around the transfer chamber 1.

Further, 5 is a load chamber for taking the substrate 3 into the apparatus from the substrate supply conveyor 4a of the conveyor means 4, 6 is a heating chamber for heating the substrate 3 to a predetermined temperature, and 7 is heating. A first film forming chamber for forming, for example, a functional film on the surface of the formed substrate 3, 8 is a second film forming chamber for forming, for example, a protective film on the surface of the functional film, and 9 is a film forming process. Unload chamber for taking out the finished substrate 3 of the
Reference numeral 10 denotes a support base cleaning chamber for cleaning a support base 17 of the transfer means 2 described later. In the case of the present sputtering apparatus, the load chamber 5, the heating chamber 6, the first and second film forming chambers 7, 8, the unloading chamber 9 and the support stand cleaning chamber 10 respectively constitute a vacuum chamber, and the heating chamber 6 and The first and second film forming chambers 7 and 8 constitute a film forming processing chamber for performing each film forming process on the substrate 3.

The transfer chamber 1 is kept in a predetermined vacuum state by a vacuum pump 11 connected to the transfer chamber 1. The load chamber 5 is connected to a position on the outer peripheral surface of the transfer chamber 1 near the substrate supply conveyor 4a, and the load chamber 5 is used as a starting point for the heating chamber 6, the first and second components. The film chambers 7, 8, the unload chamber 9 and the support base cleaning chamber 10 are connected to respective positions where the outer peripheral surface of the transfer chamber 1 is divided into six equal parts in the clockwise circumferential direction of FIG. An opening 1a having a predetermined size that allows the substrate 3 to be held in and out of each other at a connection portion between the peripheral chambers 5 to 10 and the transfer chamber 1 is held.
(See FIG. 3), respectively, and each of the chambers 5 to 5 is formed.
The transfer chamber 10 and the transfer chamber 1 are communicated with each other through the openings 1a.

The carrying means 2 is a revolving body 12 which revolves clockwise in FIG. 1 around a revolving central axis X positioned in the center of the carrying chamber 1, and a driving means 13 for the revolving body 12.
And six guide rails 14 fixed to the revolving structure 12 and extending in the radial direction at equal intervals in the circumferential direction.
And six lids 16, 16, ... Which are moved in the radial direction along the guide rails 14 by the radial transfer means 15 to open and close the openings 1a of the surrounding chambers 5 to 10, and the respective lids. .., which are fixed to the body 16 via arm members 17a made of an insulating material (see FIG. 3) and which are made of a conductive material and project outward in the radial direction. That is, the radial direction transfer means 15, 15, ..., Lids 16, 1 corresponding in number to the process chambers 5 to 10 are provided.
6, and support bases 17, 17 ,. In addition, reference numeral 18 in FIG. 3 is a seal member which is fitted into each of the lids 16 and seals between the peripheral portion of the opening 1a.

Then, the conveying means 2 makes the radial transfer means 15 retreat and the drive means 13 operate every 1/6 turn, that is, every time a predetermined tact time in the film forming process elapses, that is, After turning 60 degrees, the radial transfer means 15 are moved forward to move the support bases 1
The substrate 3 held in 7 is conveyed to the adjacent process chambers 5-9 or 10. The takt time is determined by the time required for the film forming process of each process, and in this embodiment, loading of the substrate 3 in each chamber 5 to 10, heat treatment, each of the first and second film forming processes, The processing times of unloading the substrate 3 and cleaning of the support after the film formation processing are set to be the same time, and the respective processing times are set as the takt time.

The conveyor means 4 is a substrate supply conveyor 4a which passes near the load chamber 5, and a film-formed substrate which passes near the unload chamber 9 and is substantially orthogonal to the substrate supply conveyor 4a. A recovery conveyor 4b and a turntable 4c that changes the direction from the board supply conveyor 4a to the board recovery conveyor 4b are provided. A load robot 19 is provided at a position near the substrate supply conveyor 4a between the load chamber 5 and the support base cleaning chamber 10 which are adjacent to each other.
The substrate 3 is taken into the load chamber 5 from the cassette 20 on the substrate supply conveyor 4a and held by the support table 17 housed inside. Further, the unload robot 2 is placed at a position between the support base cleaning chamber 10 and the unload chamber 9 near the substrate recovery conveyor 4b.
1 is provided, and the unload robot 21 takes out the substrate 3 on which the film formation process is performed from the support table 17 in the unload chamber 10 to the outside, and the substrate recovery conveyor 4b.
It is designed to be collected in the upper empty cassette 22. Each housing forming the load chamber 5 and the unload chamber 9 is provided with an opening / closing door at a position on the side of the load robot 19 or at a position on the side of the unload robot 21. The loading robot 19 or the unloading robot 21 takes in or takes out the substrate 3.

The loading chamber 5, the heating chamber 6, the first and second film forming chambers 7 and 8, the unloading chamber 9, and the support stand cleaning chamber 10
Are vacuum pumps 23 to 28 connected to them, respectively.
Is set to a predetermined vacuum state. Further, a supply pipe (not shown) for supplying a process gas according to each film forming process is connected to the first and second film forming chambers 7 and 8.

The support base cleaning chamber 10 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in detail in FIG. 1, a housing 29 that constitutes the support base cleaning chamber 10, an upper side wall portion 29a of the housing 29,
An inert gas supply pipe 30 penetratingly connected to the housing, an exhaust pipe 31 opened and connected to the lower side wall portion 29b of the housing 29, and a housing located outside the radial movement of the support base 17. Conducting member 32 which is disposed so as to penetrate through the wall portion 29c of 29 and contacts the supporting base 17 to conduct current.
It has and.

The housing 29 is connected to a power source (not shown) so that the housing 29 is on the anode side, while the support base 17 is connected to the power source via the conducting member 32 and the support base 17 is on the cathode side. It is like this.

The inert gas supply pipe 30 is adapted to supply an inert gas such as argon gas from an inert gas supply system (not shown) into the support stand cleaning chamber 10.

The exhaust pipe 31 is provided with the vacuum pump 28, and the operation of the vacuum pump 28 evacuates the inside of the support base cleaning chamber 10.

The conducting member 32 has a casing 34 containing a spring member 33, and a terminal member 35 that is held by the casing so as to be able to move forward and backward and is biased by the spring member 33 so as to project toward the support base 17. And the casing 34 includes the wall portion 2 of the housing 29.
It is fixed to 9c via a seal member 36 made of an insulating material. The terminal member 35 is the spring member 3
The urging force of No. 3 causes a predetermined amount of inward projection of the supporting table cleaning chamber 10 in a non-loaded state (a state shown by a solid line in FIG. 4). An opening V-shaped fitting groove 35a is formed. On the other hand, at the tip of the support base 17 facing the terminal member 35, the convex portion 1 fitted into the fitting groove 35a and joined to each other.
7b is formed. Then, the support 17 is housed in the support cleaning chamber 10, that is, the support 1
7 moves in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG.
With the opening 1a closed, the convex portion 17b is fitted and joined to the fitting groove 35a, and the terminal member 35 is pressed to slightly retract against the spring member 33. (See the state indicated by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 4).
That is, by bringing the compression restoring force of the spring member 33 into action, the close contact between the support base 17 and the terminal member 35 is reliably maintained.

In the supporting base cleaning chamber 10, the inert gas ions collide with the film forming material attached to the surface of the supporting base 17 on the cathode side, and the film forming material is transferred to the housing 29 side on the anode side. By scattering, the support 17
The film-forming material adhering to the surface of the is removed and cleaned. That is, so-called reverse sputtering is performed on the support table 17, and the housing 29, the inert gas supply pipe 30, the exhaust pipe 31, and the vacuum pump 28, which are components for performing the reverse sputtering, The conductive member 32, a power supply, and the like constitute a cleaning means 37 in the support base cleaning chamber 10.

Next, a film forming process by the sputtering apparatus having the above structure will be described.

At the start of the film forming process on the substrate 3, the transfer chamber 1 and the chambers 5 to 10 are shut off by closing the lids 16, and the vacuum pumps 11 and 23 to 28 are used to seal the chambers 5. ~
A predetermined vacuum state according to 10 is set. Then, the load robot 19 is operated to take in one substrate 3 from the cassette 20 on the substrate supply conveyor 4a into the load chamber 5 and hold it on the internal support stand 17 during a predetermined tact time.

After the lapse of the takt time, the transfer means 2 is driven in synchronization with each other, and the substrate 3 taken in the load chamber 5 is transferred to the heating chamber 6. Then, the substrate 3 is heated in the heating chamber 6 during the next takt time to remove water and gas adhering to the surface thereof for cleaning and to raise the temperature to a temperature suitable for film formation. Be warmed. At the same time, a new substrate 3 is loaded on the support 17 of the load chamber 5 by the load robot 19.

After the lapse of the takt time, the transfer means 2 is driven again to heat the substrate 3 in the heating chamber 6 to the first film forming chamber 7 and the substrate 3 in the load chamber 5 to heat. Each is transported into the chamber 6. Then, during the next takt time, a functional film is formed on the substrate 3 in the first film forming chamber 7, the substrate 3 in the heating chamber 6 is heated, and a new substrate is placed in the load chamber 5. 3 is taken in. As described above, the film deposition process is performed on each substrate 3 while being held on the support table 17 at each takt time, and the support table 1 in the load chamber 5 is executed.
After the new substrate 3 is taken into the substrate 7, the substrates 3 are sequentially transported to the chambers 6 to 10 on the front side in the turning direction, and these steps are repeated. Then, the first substrate 3 reaches the unload chamber 9, and the support base 1 in the unload chamber 9
The unloading robot 21 removes the vacant cassette 7 from the substrate 7 into the empty cassette 22 on the substrate recovery conveyor 4b, and then the vacant supporting base 17 is conveyed to the supporting base cleaning chamber 10.

Then, during the next tact time, reverse sputtering is performed by the cleaning means 37 in the support base cleaning chamber 10, whereby the first and second film forming chambers 7,
By the film forming process in 8, the film forming material attached to the surface of the support 17 is removed and the support 17 is washed. After the lapse of this tact time, the support base 17 after cleaning is transferred to the load chamber 5, and a new substrate 3 is mounted on the support base 17.
Is captured. Hereinafter, the film forming process is performed on the substrate 3 while being held on the support 17 after the cleaning.

In the support stand cleaning chamber 10, the cleaning means 37 removes the film forming material adhering to the support stand 17 during the film forming process on the substrate 3 to obtain a clean state in which the film forming material does not adhere. Therefore, in the next film forming process using the support 17, it is possible to surely form a thin film having a predetermined film quality in each of the film forming chambers 7 and 8. Moreover,
Since the film forming material attached to the support 17 is removed every time the film forming process is performed, it is possible to reliably prevent the adhered film forming material from being peeled off. The risk of occurrence of can be reliably eliminated. Therefore, in the continuous film forming process, each film forming process can be surely performed as a predetermined process, and a thin film of uniform quality can be surely formed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but includes various other modifications. That is, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the cleaning means 37 is constituted by utilizing the reverse sputtering, but it is not limited to this,
For example, the cleaning unit may be configured using reactive ion etching that removes the film forming material attached to the surface of the support table 17 by irradiating the surface of the support table 17 with reactive ions. In this case, the gas corresponding to the film forming material may be supplied from the inert gas supply pipe 30.

In the above embodiment, the cleaning means 37 is
Although the electric cleaning method called reverse sputtering is used, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the support 17 is made of a non-conductive material, a mechanical method such as surface cutting of the support 17, or It may be configured by using a chemical method such as dissolution with a chemical. In these cases, a plurality of support base cleaning chambers may be provided to perform cleaning in stages. .

Further, in the above embodiment, the load chamber 5 and the film forming chambers 6 to 8 are arranged circumferentially so that the conveying means 2 is swung, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a plurality of units can be used. The film formation processing chambers are arranged in a straight line, the loading chamber is located on the starting point side, and the unloading chamber is located on the ending point side, and the supporting table cleaning chamber is located on the return path of the supporting table from the unloading chamber to the loading chamber. You may arrange.

[0031]

As described above, according to the continuous film forming apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, the support base cleaning chamber is provided between the loading chamber and the unloading chamber. In the supporting base cleaning chamber, the film forming material attached to the supporting base along with the film forming process on the substrate is removed by the cleaning means,
It is possible to obtain a clean state in which the film forming material is not attached.
Therefore, in the next film forming process using the support table, the influence of the attached film forming material on the film formation can be removed, and a thin film having a predetermined film quality can be surely formed in the film forming process chamber. You can Moreover, since the film-forming material adhered to the support is removed every time the film-forming process is performed, it is possible to reliably prevent the adhered film-forming material from being peeled off. It is possible to reliably eliminate the possibility of electric discharge. Therefore, in the continuous film forming process, each film forming process can be surely performed as a predetermined process, and a thin film of uniform quality can be surely formed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the substantial center of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a plan configuration diagram showing a conventional continuous film forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 carrier means 3 substrate 5 load chamber 6 heating chamber (film forming treatment chamber) 7 first film forming chamber (film forming treatment chamber) 8 second film forming chamber (film forming treatment chamber) 9 unloading chamber 10 support base cleaning chamber 17 Support 37 Cleaning means

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Michio Sunagawa 6-10107 Takino-cho, Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo Shinmeiwa Industrial Co., Ltd. Development Technology Headquarters (72) Nobuyuki Sakano 6 Takino-cho, Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo No. 107 Shinmeiwa Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A load chamber for loading a substrate inside and holding it on a supporting table, a film forming processing chamber for performing a film forming process on the substrate held by the supporting table, and a film forming process from the supporting table. The unload chamber in which the substrate is removed and taken out to the outside, and the support table in a state in which the substrate is held are transferred from the load chamber to the film formation processing chamber and the unload chamber in this order, and the unload chamber is emptied in the unload chamber. In a continuous film forming apparatus equipped with a transfer means that repeats the transfer by returning the support table in the state of to the load chamber again, in the transfer path of the support table from the unload chamber to the load chamber, A support base cleaning chamber for cleaning the support base is provided, and the support base cleaning chamber removes and cleans the film forming material adhering to the surface of the support base by the film forming process in the film forming processing chamber. Specially equipped with cleaning means Continuous film-forming apparatus to.