JPH06184746A - Vacuum treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To additionally enhance the shutting off performance of a band-shaped substrate housing chamber and a film forming treatment chamber. CONSTITUTION:A gate valve 1 is so formed as to close a gate 5 through which gases and a band-shaped substrate pass by intermeshing of a valve moving part 2 and opposite surfaces 4, 4a of valve moving parts opposing this gate moving part. Rubber elastic bodies 6 made of 'Viton(R)' are mounted to these opposite surfaces 4, 4a of the gate moving parts. The rubber elastic body 3 made of 'Viton(R)' is also mounted to one end face of the valve moving part 2 opposing the opposite surfaces 4, 4a of the of the gate moving parts. The hardness of these rubber elastic bodies 3 and 6 are <=80Hs.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus for carrying out a predetermined process while transporting a band-shaped substrate in a roll-roll-to-roll system, and more particularly to a gate valve for hermetically shutting off a vacuum processing chamber and a band-shaped substrate accommodating chamber A vacuum processing apparatus having

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a roll-to-roll type vacuum processing apparatus for performing a predetermined processing on a belt-shaped substrate is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-304.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 19, a strip-shaped substrate wound on a bobbin is housed while sandwiching the strip-shaped substrate with a pieton roller at a gas gate inlet or outlet connecting the strip-shaped substrate storage chamber and the vacuum processing chamber. It is known that the chamber and the vacuum processing chamber are hermetically separated, the band-shaped substrate accommodating chamber in a vacuum state is evacuated, and then returned to the atmosphere for replacement.

In addition to the method using the Paiton roller as described above, a strip-shaped substrate wound on a bobbin,
Alternatively, when exchanging the parts of the vacuum processing chamber, a gate valve that cuts between the strip-shaped substrate housing chamber exposed to the atmosphere and the strip-shaped substrate that passes through the connection passage between the vacuum processing chamber and the vacuum processing chamber is sandwiched between them. Are known. A conventional vacuum processing apparatus having this gate valve will be described with reference to FIG.

The conventional vacuum processing apparatus as shown in this figure is provided with a gate 104 which is connected between the strip-shaped substrate accommodating chamber 101 and the vacuum processing chamber 102 and through which the strip-shaped substrate 103 can pass. The gate 104 is provided with a gate valve 105 capable of hermetically separating the belt-shaped substrate accommodating chamber 101 and the vacuum processing chamber 102 while sandwiching the belt-shaped substrate 103.

The gate valve 105 is basically composed of a valve movable portion 105a provided on the upper wall of the gate 104 in the drawing so as to be vertically movable, and a valve drive mechanism 105b for moving and driving the valve movable portion 105a. An elastic member 105c is attached to a tip end portion of the valve movable portion 105b that abuts the belt-shaped substrate 103.

In order to perform the airtight separation by the gate valve 105 having the above-mentioned structure, the gate 1 is operated by the valve drive mechanism 105b.
No. 04 elastic member 1 attached to the lower wall of the drawing
This is performed by pressing the belt-shaped substrate 103 together with the valve movable portion 105a onto the substrate 06.

[0007]

However, due to the recent progress in the integration of semiconductors, it is necessary to reduce the impurity component of the gas at the time of reaction, and therefore a higher vacuum-to-atmosphere shutoff performance is required. The device had a problem that the impure component of the gas during the reaction cannot be ignored.

Further, there is a problem that the film quality is deteriorated by contamination of the processed substrate by adopting a structure in which the substrate is sandwiched and divided into air and vacuum.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum processing apparatus which further enhances the blocking performance between the belt-shaped substrate accommodating chamber and the vacuum processing chamber. There is.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is directed to a strip-shaped substrate accommodating chamber whose inside is at atmospheric pressure or a vacuum, and an inside which is vacuumed so that the strip-shaped substrates are continuously loaded. A first elastic body is attached to an inner wall surface of the passage, which faces a surface of the strip-shaped substrate passing through the passage and is connected to a vacuum processing chamber in which a predetermined treatment is performed. A side wall facing the wall surface is provided so as to be vertically movable with respect to one surface of the strip-shaped substrate, and the strip-shaped substrate is sandwiched between the first elastic body and the vacuum processing chamber and the strip-shaped substrate accommodating chamber. In the vacuum processing apparatus provided with a gate valve including a second elastic body that interrupts the space,
The second elastic body is a rubber elastic body, and the hardness of the rubber elastic body is 80 Hs or less.

[0011]

In the vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention having the above structure, the belt-shaped substrate is fed from the belt-shaped substrate accommodating chamber to the vacuum processing chamber, or the belt-shaped substrate is taken up from the vacuum-treatment chamber in the belt-shaped substrate accommodating chamber while being placed in the vacuum processing chamber. The strip-shaped substrate is subjected to a predetermined process. When it is necessary to replace the band-shaped substrate during the film formation process or when it is necessary to replace the parts of the vacuum processing chamber, the band-shaped substrate is sandwiched between the gate valves and the vacuum processing chamber is hermetically closed. To do. At this time, the first and second elastic bodies that come into contact with the strip-shaped substrate are rubber elastic bodies, and the hardness of the rubber elastic body is set to 80 Hs or less, so that the vacuum processing chamber and the strip-shaped substrate accommodating chamber are separated from each other. In the state where there is a pressure difference between them, the airtight blocking performance is further improved as compared with the conventional case.

[0012]

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

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the detailed construction of an embodiment of a gate valve included in the vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention.
As shown in this figure, in the gate valve 1, the valve movable portion 2 and the gate movable portion facing surfaces 4 and 4a that face the valve movable portion 2 mesh with each other to block the gate 5 through which the gas and the strip-shaped substrate pass, as in the case of the conventionally known one. Is formed.
A rubber elastic body 6 made of Viton is attached to the facing surfaces 4 and 4a of the gate moving part, and a rubber elastic body made of viton is also attached to one end surface of the valve moving part 2 facing the facing surfaces 4 and 4a of the gate moving part. 3 is attached.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an experimental apparatus for testing the shutoff performance of the gate valve shown in FIG.

In the experimental apparatus using the gate valve 1 of this embodiment, the valve driving mechanism 13 moves the valve movable portion 2 toward the gate movable portion facing surfaces 4 and 4a to drive the gate movable portion facing surfaces 4 and 4a. By pressing the rubber elastic body 3 of the valve movable portion 2 against the rubber elastic body 6, the closed chamber 14 that is closed to the atmosphere is formed. An exhaust pump 12 for evacuating the inside of the closed chamber 14 is connected to the closed chamber 14 through a pipe provided with valves 8, 9, 11 and a pressure gauge 10 as shown in FIG.

Here, an experiment was conducted with the experimental apparatus using the gate valve 1 of the present embodiment to isolate the atmosphere and the vacuum state from each other while sandwiching the strip substrate 7 as shown in FIG. First, the procedure of the experiment will be described.

In the experimental apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the strip-shaped substrate 7
Before measuring the amount of leak in the state of sandwiching, the valve 8 is first closed, the valve 11 is opened, and a predetermined flow rate of air is introduced from the valve 9 while exhausted by the pump 12.
The pressure at this time is measured by the pressure gauge 10, and a graph showing the relationship between the flow rate and pressure of this system is prepared as shown in FIG.

To measure the actual amount of leakage, the valve 9 is closed and the valve 8 is opened to exhaust the closed chamber. The pressure of the pressure gauge 10 at this time is read, and the leak amount of air is converted from the pressure according to the graph of FIG.

Based on the above-described experimental procedure, the thickness of the belt-shaped substrate 7 is 0.127 mm, the thickness of the rubber elastic bodies 3 and 6 provided in this embodiment is 0.5 mm, and the hardness (spring hardness) 50Hs, 60Hs, 70Hs,
The amount of leak was measured by changing the pressing force of the gate valve 1 to 80 Hs and 90 Hs. FIG. 4 is a graph of the result.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the pressing force of the gate valve is increased, the leak amount decreases with each hardness, but it is understood that there is a difference in the leak amount in the hardness difference. In particular, the difference in the amount of leakage in the hardness difference exceeds 80 Hs, and the amount of leakage increases, and the hardness of the rubber elastic body of the gate valve must be 80 Hs or less in order to improve the barrier property against the atmosphere. I understand.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the detailed construction of another embodiment of the gate valve of the vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention. As shown in this figure, the gate valve 1 is similar to the conventionally known one or the above-mentioned embodiment, and the valve movable portion 2 and the gate movable portion facing surfaces 4 and 4a facing the valve movable portion 2 are engaged with each other so that the gas and the strip-shaped substrate are not formed. It is formed so as to close the passing gate 5. A rubber elastic body 14 made of Viton is embedded in the facing surface 4 of the gate movable portion so that there is no step, and one end surface of the valve movable portion 2 facing the facing surfaces 4 and 4a of the movable gate portion also has a viton. Made of rubber elastic body 3 is attached.

Also in the above-mentioned structure of the facing surface 4 of the movable gate portion, the thickness of the belt-shaped substrate 7 is 0.127 mm, and the rubber elastic body provided in this embodiment is based on the same experimental procedure as in the above-mentioned embodiment. The thickness of 3,15 is 0.5 mm, and the hardness (spring hardness) is 50 Hs, 60 Hs, 70 H
s, 80Hs, 90Hs, and the amount of leak was measured by changing the pressing force of the gate valve 1. FIG. 6 is a graph of the result.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the pressing force of the gate valve is increased, the leakage amount with each hardness decreases. However, as in the above-described embodiment, the difference in hardness also occurs. You can see that In particular, the difference in the amount of leakage in the hardness difference exceeds 80 Hs, and the amount of leakage increases, and the hardness of the rubber elastic body of the gate valve must be 80 Hs or less in order to improve the barrier property against the atmosphere. I understand.

[0025]

According to the apparatus of the present invention as described above, when the band-shaped substrate accommodating chamber and the vacuum processing chamber are hermetically separated by the gate valve, the band-shaped substrate is contacted when the band-shaped substrate is sandwiched by the gate valve. Higher vacuum cutoff performance can be obtained by using rubber elastic bodies as the first and second elastic bodies and limiting the hardness of the rubber elastic bodies to 80 Hs or less.

Therefore, the impurity component can be reduced to the gas at the time of the reaction when the predetermined treatment is performed on the belt-shaped substrate in the vacuum treatment chamber, and the high-quality film treatment can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a detailed configuration of an embodiment of a gate valve included in a vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an experimental device for testing the shutoff performance of the gate valve shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a graph for converting an air leakage amount when the experimental apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is used.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the results of measuring the amount of leakage using the experimental apparatus shown in FIG. 2 while changing the pressing force of the gate valve for each hardness of the rubber elastic body.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a detailed configuration of another embodiment of the gate valve included in the vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the results of measuring the amount of leakage when the pressing force of the gate valve of each hardness of the rubber elastic body is changed using the experimental apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a vacuum processing apparatus having a conventional gate valve.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Gate valve 2 Valve movable part 3,6,15 Rubber elastic body 4,4a Gate movable part facing surface 5 Gate 7 Strip substrate 8,9,11 Valve 10 Pressure gauge 12 Exhaust pump 13 Valve drive mechanism 14 Closed chamber

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Gaku Kurokawa 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A strip-shaped substrate accommodating chamber, the inside of which is at atmospheric pressure or a vacuum, and a vacuum processing chamber, in which the inside is evacuated and a predetermined process is performed while continuously introducing the strip-shaped substrates. A first elastic body is attached to an inner wall surface of the passage facing the one surface of the belt-shaped substrate passing through the passage, and a side wall facing the inner wall surface is provided with respect to the one surface of the belt-shaped substrate. A gate valve including a second elastic body that is provided so as to be vertically movable and that sandwiches the strip-shaped substrate with the first elastic body and shuts off between the vacuum processing chamber and the strip-shaped substrate accommodating chamber is provided. In the vacuum processing apparatus described above, the first and second elastic bodies are rubber elastic bodies, and the hardness of the rubber elastic body is 80 Hs or less.