JPH07188910A - Plasma treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a plasma treating device suitable for an inline-type ion plating device in which the area to be treated can be increased without increasing the device scale. CONSTITUTION:A plasma beam is introduced into a vacuum vessel 11 from a plasma source 21 set to a primary wall face constituting the vacuum vessel 11. A primary anode 24 is set to a secondary wall face 22 approximately perpendicular to the primary wall face set with the same plasma source. A secondary anode 29 to be arranged with the material to be evaporated is set at a position on the primary wall face between the primary anode and plasma source. A position in the vacuum vessel at which the material to be evaporated from the secondary anode is bombarded is provided with a conveying device 33 conveying the material 32 to be treated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus, and in particular, a metal film or an alloy film is formed by depositing metal vapor particles generated by evaporation and ionization of a metal material in a vacuum container on a surface of an object to be processed. The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus suitable for an in-line type ion plating apparatus that is continuously formed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional ion plating apparatus, an apparatus using a enamel cathode (HCD) gun or a pressure gradient type plasma gun as a plasma source is industrially used.

[0003]

In the above ion plating apparatus, unlike the sputtering apparatus,
Mainly batch processing. However, in order to industrially use this type of equipment as a production facility, the batch processing has low productivity and high production cost. Therefore, it is desired to provide an ion plating apparatus capable of processing a large area of the object to be processed at one time and an in-line type ion plating apparatus capable of continuous production. However, in an apparatus using a conventional enamel cathode (HCD) gun or a pressure gradient type plasma gun as a plasma source, the plasma source and the evaporation source of the metal material are arranged on the wall surfaces orthogonal to each other, and are emitted from the plasma source. The plasma coil is guided by being swirled in the direction of the evaporation source by the steering coil. Therefore, it is necessary to dispose the plasma source at a certain height with respect to the evaporation source, which has a disadvantage of increasing the size of the apparatus.

On the other hand, when the plasma source and the evaporation source of the metal material are arranged on the same plane, the turning angle of the plasma beam cannot be made large due to a problem such as reconnection of magnetic field lines generated by the steering coil. The radius is required to be large, and there is a drawback that the device is also large.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a plasma processing apparatus suitable for an ion plating apparatus which can increase the processing area without increasing the size of the apparatus.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a vacuum container, a plasma source installed on a first wall constituting the vacuum container so as to introduce a plasma beam into the vacuum container, and A first anode that is disposed substantially at right angles to the first wall surface on which the plasma source is installed;
A second anode that is provided at a position on the first wall surface between the anode and the plasma source and in which the evaporation material is disposed, and the evaporation material evaporated from the second anode is vacuumed. A plasma processing apparatus characterized by colliding with an object to be processed arranged at a position in a container is obtained.

It is preferable that the object to be processed is carried by a carrying device provided in the vacuum container. In addition, it is preferable that one or more first anodes are provided and one or more second anodes are also provided.

Further, the first anode and / or the second anode
The plasma beam may be adjusted by connecting a current adjusting means to the anode and adjusting the current using the current adjusting means.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the configuration when the present invention is applied to an in-line type ion plating apparatus among plasma processing apparatuses. The in-line type ion plating apparatus of the present invention is equipped with a vacuum container 11 whose inside is kept airtight and a reaction gas is supplied. A bottom wall 12 which is a first wall surface of the vacuum container 11 is provided with a first mounting port 13, and a steering coil 14 for plasma beam guide is installed outside the bottom wall 12 around the first mounting port 13. There is. In the steering coil 14,
Coil 15 for focusing plasma beam and annular permanent magnet 1
6 are arranged concentrically.

Coil 1 for focusing these plasma beams
5 and the cathode 17 is provided directly below the annular permanent magnet 16. The cathode 17 has an opening 18 in the center, and a reaction gas 19 such as argon (Ar) gas is introduced into the vacuum container 11 through the opening 18. An exciting current is supplied from the DC power supply 20 to the steering coil 14 and the plasma beam focusing coil 15. These steering coils 14 and coils 1 for focusing the plasma beam
The plasma source 21 is composed of the 5 and the annular permanent magnet 16.

A side wall 22 perpendicular to the bottom wall 12 of the vacuum container 11
Is provided with a second mounting port 23, and the first anode 24 is inserted into the vacuum container 11 via the second mounting port 23. The first anode 24 includes an anode plate 25 formed inside the vacuum container 11, and a permanent magnet 26 for attracting a plasma beam is embedded in the main body of the anode plate 25. A variable voltage DC power supply 27 is connected between the first anode 24 and the cathode 17 as a current adjusting means with a polarity such that the first anode 24 side has a positive potential.

In the embodiment, the first anode 24 is connected to the side wall 2
Although the example provided in No. 2 is shown, it is not necessarily limited to this and may be provided in the bottom wall 12. Even in that case, the first anode 24 must be provided at a right angle to the plasma source 21.

The bottom wall 12 of the vacuum container 11 also has a third mounting port 2 at a position between the first mounting port 13 and the side wall 22.
8 is provided, and the second anode 29 is inserted into the vacuum container 11 via the third mounting port 28. The second anode 29 has a permanent magnet 30 embedded in its body for attracting a plasma beam. Second anode 2
Although not shown, a metal evaporation material is placed on the tip portion 31 inserted into the vacuum container 11 of No. 9. The object 32 to be processed is sent by the transfer device 33 to the upper part inside the vacuum container 11 facing the tip 31 of the second anode 29. The transfer device 33 sequentially transfers a plurality of objects 32 to be processed by a guide rail 34 that penetrates the inside of the vacuum container 11 and enables continuous processing.

The second anode 29 has a variable voltage DC power supply 27.
Is connected via the gate turn-off switch 35. The cathode of the variable voltage DC power supply 27 also has a resistor 3
The coil 15 for converging the plasma beam and the annular permanent magnet 16 are connected via 6 and 37, and a predetermined negative potential is applied to each of them.

The operation of the in-line type ion plating apparatus of the present invention constructed as above will be described. In the vacuum chamber 11, a discharge is generated between the cathode 17 in the plasma source 21 and the first anode 24, which generates a plasma beam 38, which is generated by the steering coil 14 and the first anode 24. Guided by the magnetic field lines determined by and, from the cathode 17 to the first anode 2
Reach 4. In this state, the gate turn-off switch 35, which was initially in the off state, is turned on, and the plasma beam 38 is drawn into the second anode 29. As a result, the metal evaporation material (not shown) placed on the tip portion 31 of the second anode 29 is heated and evaporated. The evaporated metal particles are ionized by the irradiation of the plasma beam 38 and adhere to the surface of the object 32 to be processed, which is arranged in the upper part of the vacuum container 11 and to which a negative voltage is applied, and a film is formed.

In the in-line type ion plating apparatus of the present invention, the turning angle of the plasma beam 38 is 90 degrees between the plasma source 21 and the first anode 24, but between the plasma source 21 and the second anode 29. It will be 180 degrees.
However, the second anode 29 is connected to the plasma source 21
The plasma beam 38 easily reaches the second anode 29 from the plasma source 21 due to the intermediate position of the plasma beam 38.

Therefore, in the in-line type ion plating apparatus of the present invention, the plasma source 21 and the second anode 29 serving as the evaporation source can be placed on the same plane, and the height of the apparatus can be reduced. . The distance between the plasma beam 38 and the object 32 to be processed can be adjusted by the position and shape of the first anode 24.

FIG. 2 is a schematic constitutional view showing another embodiment of the in-line type ion plating apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2A is a top view showing the arrangement of the anodes in the vacuum container 11, and FIG. ) Is a perspective view thereof. In this example,
Four second anodes 29 are provided around the first mounting port 13 on which the plasma source 21 on the bottom wall 12 of the vacuum container 11 is mounted. The arrangement position of these second anodes 29 is
It is determined by the power law of cosine. Anode plates 25 attached to the four first anodes 24 are provided on the side wall (not shown) of the vacuum container 11 so as to correspond to the respective second anodes 29. With such a configuration, the plasma beam 38 expands onto the bottom wall 12 of the vacuum container 11, and thus uniform and large-area ion plating can be performed.

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view of a vacuum container 11 showing still another embodiment of the in-line type ion plating apparatus of the present invention. In this embodiment, three second anodes 29 are provided around the first mounting port 13 on which the plasma source 21 on the bottom wall 12 of the vacuum container 11 is mounted.
Then, the second anode 2 is formed along the peripheral side wall of the vacuum container 11.
A first anode 41 that is continuously formed so as to surround the whole 9 is provided. With such a configuration, similar to the embodiment of FIG. 2, it is possible to perform uniform and large area ion plating.

In the above embodiment, the first anode 2
An example in which a plurality of 4 are provided and the same number of second anodes 29 are provided corresponding to the first anodes 24, or one first anode 24 is provided for a plurality of second anodes 29 However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of first anodes 24 may be provided for one second anode 29, and the number of each anode may be a vacuum. Shape of the container 11, object to be processed 32
It can be appropriately selected depending on the material, shape and layout of each anode.

Further, although the variable voltage DC power supply 27 is used as the current adjusting means, another means is control using the GTO or control using the variable resistance. Furthermore, in each of the above-described embodiments, by providing the second anode 29 with an annular permanent magnet for beam modification, more uniform ion plating can be performed. The beam correction technique using such an annular permanent magnet is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 5-288163 of the applicant of the present application.

Although the present invention has been described as applied to the in-line type ion plating apparatus, the present invention is not limited to the ion plating apparatus, but is also applicable to other plasma treatments such as vacuum deposition, plasma CVD and plasma etching. It goes without saying that you can do it.

[0023]

According to the present invention described above, it is possible to provide a plasma processing apparatus suitable for an in-line type ion plating apparatus capable of forming a large-area processing film without increasing the size of the apparatus. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the configuration of an in-line type ion plating apparatus to which the present invention has been applied.

2A and 2B are schematic configuration diagrams showing another embodiment of the in-line type ion plating apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2A is a top view showing the arrangement of anodes in a vacuum container, and FIG. It is a perspective view.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a vacuum container showing still another embodiment of the in-line type ion plating apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Vacuum Container 12 Bottom Wall 13 First Mounting Port 14 Steering Coil 15 Plasma Beam Focusing Coil 16 Annular Permanent Magnet 17 Cathode 18 Opening 20 DC Power Supply 21 Plasma Source 22 Right Angle Side Wall 23 Second Mounting Port 24 First Anode 25 Anode plate 26 Permanent magnet 27 Variable voltage DC power source 28 Third mounting port 29 Second anode 30 Permanent magnet 32 Object to be treated 33 Transfer device 34 Guide rail 35 Gate turn-off switch 36 Resistor 37 Resistor 38 Plasma beam

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum container, a plasma source installed on a first wall constituting the vacuum container so as to introduce a plasma beam into the vacuum container, and the first plasma source installed with the plasma source. A first anode disposed substantially at right angles to the wall surface, and a second anode provided at a position on the first wall surface between the first anode and the plasma source, where vaporized substances are arranged. And a vaporized substance evaporated from the second anode to collide with an object to be treated arranged at a position in the vacuum container. 2. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an object to be processed which is arranged at a position in the vacuum container where the evaporation material evaporated from the second anode collides is provided in the vacuum container. The plasma processing apparatus is characterized in that it is carried by the carrying device. 3. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first anode is provided in one or more, and the second anode is also provided in one or more. . 4. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a current adjusting means is connected to the first anode, and the current is adjusted by using the current adjusting means to generate a plasma beam. A plasma processing apparatus characterized in that adjustment is performed. 5. The plasma processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a current adjusting unit is connected to the second anode, and the current is adjusted by using the current adjusting unit to generate a plasma beam. A plasma processing apparatus characterized in that adjustment is performed.