JPH0748669A - Film forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a film forming device capable of increasing the number of film-coated substrates per unit time by shortening the time in which the film has been formed on the substrate from a substrate device to the time the substrate is discharged. CONSTITUTION:A specified number of substrates 6 to be treated are housed in a supply-side cassette 14a and set in a spare vacuum chamber 11. Sputtering targets 3a to 3b are set in a vacuum treating chamber 7, and the chambers 11 and 7 are evacuated by a vacuum pump 8. An ion beam 2 from an ion source 1 is struck against the targets to clean the targets 3a to 3b. A gate valve 12 is opened while the chambers 11 and 7 are held at a high vacuum, the substrate 6 is taken out from the cassette 14a by an automatic conveying mechanism 13, the substrate 6 is set on a substrate holder 5, then the gate valve 12 is closed, and a film is formed by the targets 3a to 3b.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus, and in particular,
The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus such as an ion beam sputtering apparatus that irradiates a target with an ion beam to attach scattered particles to a substrate to form a film, or an ion mixing apparatus that attaches evaporated particles to a substrate and irradiates the substrate with an ion beam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is a view for explaining the structure of an ion beam sputtering apparatus which is a film forming apparatus according to the prior art, and the prior art will be described below with reference to this figure.

In FIG. 5, 1 is an ion source, 2 is an ion beam from the ion source 1, and 3a to 3d are ion beams 2.
Target for irradiation with ion beam 4 is ion beam 2
Of the sputtering targets 3a to 3d
Sputtered particles scattered from the substrate, 5 is a substrate holder, 6 is a substrate to be supported by the substrate holder 5 and a film is formed by the scattered sputtered particles 4 adhering thereto, and 7 is a sputtering target 3a.
3d, a vacuum processing chamber for accommodating the substrate 6 and the like, 8 a vacuum pump for evacuating the vacuum processing chamber 7, and 9 a shutter.

In the illustrated prior art, in a vacuum processing chamber 7 equipped with an ion source 1 and a vacuum pump 8, sputter targets 3a to 3d of different kinds of materials which are film forming materials,
A substrate holder 5 for holding the processing substrate 6 and a shutter 9 are arranged. When a film is formed on the processing substrate 6 using the ion beam sputtering apparatus having such a structure, the processing is performed by the procedure described below.

First, the door of the vacuum processing chamber 7 is opened as shown by the dotted line, the processing substrate 6 is attached to the substrate holder 5, and then the door is closed. Next, the inside of the vacuum processing chamber 7 is evacuated by the vacuum pump 8 to evacuate, and the ion beam 2 of inert gas particles or the like is extracted from the ion source 1 and the sputtering target 3
The sputtered particles 4 are scattered on the surface a, and the sputter process is started.

At this time, since the vacuum processing chamber 7 was opened to the atmosphere for attaching the processing substrate 6 to the substrate holder 5,
The surfaces of the sputter targets 3a to 3d react with atmospheric gas to generate compounds or deposit fine dust.

Therefore, first, the shutter 9 arranged in front of the processing substrate 6 is closed and pre-sputtering is performed. After that, the shutter 9 is opened and the film forming process is performed on the processing substrate 6. Further, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, when forming a multilayer film on the processing substrate 6, the following sputtering target 3b is used to perform the pre-sputtering and film forming processes in the same manner as described above, and the sputtering targets 3c and 3d are successively formed. By changing
A multilayer film can be formed on the processing substrate 6.

[0008]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention
Although it is not inconvenient to use it for an experiment, it has a problem that an unnecessarily large amount of time other than the time for performing the film forming process is used for using it for a production.

For example, assuming that the vacuum processing chamber 7 requires 10 minutes for vacuuming and 10 minutes for pre-sputtering, and the magnetoresistive effect film is formed as a film making use of the characteristics of the ion beam sputtering. It takes about 10 minutes. In this case, the time actually required for film formation is only one-third of the total processing time.

Further, it is assumed that a multi-layer film is produced, and 10 minutes for pre-sputtering and 10 minutes for film formation with the sputtering target 3a.
Min, then 10 minutes with sputter target 3b
If 10 minutes and 10 minutes are similarly required for the minutes 3c and 3d, respectively, the time required for film formation is about one half of the total processing time.

As described above, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, considering that it is common to require a condition that maximizes throughput as a condition for introducing a device for production, a lot of wasted time is required. However, it has a problem that it cannot be used for production.

Further, the above-mentioned conventional technique has a problem that the control system is complicated because it is necessary to perform the pre-sputtering every time the film is formed.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, shorten the time from the substrate mounting to the substrate removal after the film formation on the substrate, and improve the number of substrates processed per unit time. An object of the present invention is to provide a film forming apparatus such as an ion beam sputtering apparatus and an ion mixing apparatus which can endure the cost performance for production.

[0014]

According to the present invention, the above object is to provide a vacuum preliminary chamber capable of holding a plurality of pre-processed and post-processed substrates and a vacuum process chamber for performing ion beam sputtering film formation and vapor deposition. Attaching and detaching the board while keeping the vacuum
And a mechanism for taking out.

[0015]

According to the present invention, the vacuum processing chamber for forming a film on the substrate is in a vacuum state even when the substrate is mounted, demounted, and taken out, that is,
Since the atmosphere is not opened to the atmosphere, it is possible to eliminate the time required to evacuate the vacuum processing chamber for each processing of one substrate. Further, when the present invention is applied to an ion beam sputtering apparatus, the sputter target or the like does not react with other gas to form a compound, and fine dust in the atmosphere may adhere to the sputter target. Since the sputter target can always be kept in a clean state, the need for pre-sputtering before film formation can be eliminated.

[0016]

Embodiments of a film forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the structure of a first embodiment of the present invention in which the present invention is applied to an ion beam sputtering apparatus.

In FIG. 1, 11 is a vacuum preparatory chamber disposed adjacent to the vacuum pretreatment chamber 7, 12 is a partition valve for partitioning the preparatory vacuum chamber 11 and the vacuum preparatory chamber 7 so that they can be vacuum-closed, and 1
Reference numeral 3 is an automatic transfer mechanism for transferring a substrate, 14a is a supply side cassette, and 14b is a reception side cassette, all of which are arranged in the vacuum preliminary chamber 11, and other reference numerals are the same as those in FIG.

The first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is shown in FIG.
The vacuum preliminary chamber 11 having the vacuum pump 8 is connected to the vacuum processing chamber 7 via the partition valve 12 in the ion beam sputtering apparatus according to the conventional technique described in 1., and the automatic transport mechanism 13 and a plurality of vacuum chambers are provided in the vacuum preliminary chamber 11. It is configured to include a supply-side cassette 14a that holds a substrate and a reception-side cassette 14b. It should be noted that the shutter 9 provided in the prior art in the vacuum processing chamber 7 is unnecessary.

In the first embodiment of the present invention configured as described above, the film forming process on the substrate 6 is executed by the procedure described below.

First, a predetermined amount of the substrate 6 to be processed is stored in the supply-side cassette 14a and placed in the vacuum preliminary chamber 11. The vacuum preliminary chamber 11 is evacuated by the vacuum pump 8, and at the same time, the sputtering targets 3a to 3d are set in the vacuum processing chamber 7, and the vacuum pump 8 evacuates.

Next, the ion beam 2 is extracted from the ion source 1 and the ion beam 2 is applied to the sputter target 3a to clean the sputter target 3a. At this time, the substrate 6 is not set on the substrate holder 5. Next, the sputter target 3b is rotated toward the ion beam 2 side, the sputter target 3b is cleaned in the same manner as described above, and the sputter targets 3c and 3 are sequentially cleaned.
Clean d. This cleaning may be performed only once when setting the sputter target.

After the cleaning of the sputter target is completed, the sluice valve 12 is opened while the vacuum preliminary chamber 11 and the vacuum processing chamber 7 are both kept in a high vacuum state. After the substrate 6 is taken out from the supply-side cassette 14a by the automatic transport mechanism 13 and the substrate 6 is set on the substrate holder 5, the sluice valve 12
Close.

Next, an ion beam 2 is extracted from the ion source 1 and is applied to a sputter target 3a to scatter sputtered particles 4 and adhere them onto a substrate 6 to form a film. When forming a multilayer film, the next sputter target 3b
To the side of the ion beam 2 and similarly sputtered particles 4
Are scattered to form a film on the substrate 6. A multilayer film can be formed by sequentially using the sputter targets 3c and 3d.

After the film forming process is completed, the sluice valve 12 is opened, and the substrate 6 processed by the automatic transfer mechanism 13 is removed from the substrate holder 5 and stored in the receiving side cassette 14b installed in the vacuum preliminary chamber 11. , The next substrate is set in the vacuum processing chamber 7.

The above processing is performed for the number of substrates 6 stored in the supply side cassette 14a, and after all the substrates are stored in the receiving side cassette 14b, only the vacuum preliminary chamber 11 is opened to the atmosphere, and the processing is performed. Take out the finished substrate.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention described above,
The pre-sputtering may be performed only when the sputter target is set, and can be eliminated during the subsequent film formation processing time. That is, in the above-described first embodiment of the present invention, the wasted time of the total film formation processing time can be set only when the substrate is automatically conveyed, and at most 1
The time can be set to about 1 / twentieth to about 1/20, which is almost no problem.

Further, according to the above-mentioned first embodiment of the present invention, the vacuum processing chamber 7 is continuously opened without opening to the atmosphere,
Since ion beam sputtering film formation can be performed on a plurality of substrates 6, there is no formation of compounds by atmospheric gas on the surface of the sputtering target, and there is no contamination by fine dust in the atmosphere. It is possible to eliminate the pre-sputtering process for each substrate, which occupies a large proportion of the time, improve the throughput of film formation, and save the material of the sputter target. Further, the shutter 9 can be eliminated, the device configuration can be simplified, and the control method thereof can be simplified.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the structure of the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, 11a is a vacuum reserve chamber on the supply side, 11b is a vacuum reserve chamber on the receiving side, and other symbols are those in FIG.
Is the same as the case of.

The second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 is a sputtering target 3 which is an ion beam sputtering component.
A plurality of vacuum processing chambers 7 each having an ion source 1 and an ion source 1 are provided, each processing chamber 7 is configured to form a single film, and a multilayer film is sequentially formed. On both sides, a supply side vacuum preliminary chamber 11a having a supply side cassette 14a and a reception side vacuum preliminary chamber 11b having a reception side cassette 14b are provided.

In the ion beam sputter film formation according to the second embodiment of the present invention, one kind of film formation is performed in each vacuum processing chamber 7 as in the first embodiment of the present invention described above. Executed by.

According to the second embodiment of the present invention described above,
Since it is possible to perform film formation on a plurality of substrates at the same time at the same time, it is possible to further improve throughput as compared with the first embodiment of the present invention described above. As in the case of the above embodiment, the pre-sputtering is not necessary and the time for the film forming process can be shortened.

Next, an example in which the present invention is applied to an ion beam mixing apparatus will be described. FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the present invention applied to an ion beam mixing apparatus. As shown in the figure, in the ion beam mixing apparatus, a vapor deposition cell 15 is arranged in a vacuum processing chamber 7. Evaporated particles (e.g. Ti, S) evaporating from the vapor deposition cell 15
(i, B, Cr, W, etc.) 16 is located at the position where the substrate 6 is held by the substrate holder 5, and the ion beam is irradiated from the ion source 1 almost at the same time when the vaporized particles adhere to the substrate 6. It

The operation will be described in detail. First, the evaporated particles 16 evaporated from the evaporation cell 15 adhere to the substrate 6. Almost at the same time, several K from the ion source 1
The substrate 6 is irradiated with the ion beam 2 having an energy of eV to several tens of KeV. Then, the ions in the ion beam 2 strike the vaporized particles 16 adhering on the substrate 6 inside the substrate, and the ions (for example, N +, C +, Ar +, O +).
Etc.) react with the vaporized particles 16 to form a compound.

By continuing this process, a mixing layer is formed near the boundary between the substrate 6 and the deposited layer, and a compound thin film is formed on this mixing layer.

In this embodiment, the cassette 14 on the supply side is fed through the vacuum processing chamber 7 and the partition valve 12 as described above.
a, the receiving side cassette 14b, and the vacuum preliminary chamber 11 accommodating the automatic transfer mechanism 13 are adjacent to each other, and the substrate is delivered by the same operation as the embodiment described in FIG. The effect of this embodiment is similar to that described in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention applied to an ion beam mixing apparatus. The ion beam mixing apparatus shown in FIG. 4 has a plurality of (three in the embodiment) sluice valves 12 having the same vacuum processing chamber 7 as that described in FIG.
A vacuum preparatory chamber 11a accommodating the supply side cassette 14a is provided on one end side thereof, and a preparatory vacuum chamber 11b accommodating the receiving side cassette 14b is provided on the other end side thereof with a partition valve 12. Connected through.

The operation is exactly the same as that described with reference to FIG. 2 except for the film forming process.
Since the effect is the same, the description here is omitted.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, the vacuum processing chamber for forming a film on the substrate is kept in a vacuum state even when the substrate is mounted, demounted, and taken out, that is, it is not opened to the atmosphere. Further, it is possible to eliminate the time for making the vacuum processing chamber a vacuum for each processing of one substrate, and it is possible to improve the film forming processing efficiency.

When the present invention is applied to an ion beam sputtering apparatus or the like, the sputter target or the like does not react with other gas to form a compound, and fine dust in the atmosphere adheres to the sputter target. Since the sputter target can always be kept in a clean state, the need for pre-sputtering before film formation can be eliminated, and the time required for this can be eliminated to improve film formation processing efficiency. Can be planned.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a first embodiment of the present invention in which the present invention is applied to an ion beam sputtering apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a second embodiment of the present invention in which the present invention is applied to an ion beam sputtering apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a third embodiment of the present invention in which the present invention is applied to an ion mixing device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a fourth embodiment of the present invention in which the present invention is applied to an ion mixing device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an ion beam sputtering apparatus which is a film forming apparatus according to a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Ion source, 2 ... Ion beam, 3, 3a, 3b, 3
c, 3d ... Sputter target, 4 ... Sputtered particle, 5
... Substrate holder, 6 ... Substrate, 7 ... Vacuum processing chamber, 11, 11
a, 11b ... vacuum reserve chamber, 12 ... dividing valve, 13 ... automatic transfer mechanism, 14 ... cassette, 14a ... supply side cassette,
14b ... Receiving side cassette, 15 ... Vapor deposition cell, 16 ... Evaporated particles.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An ion source, a sputter target arranged at a position where an ion beam extracted from the ion source hits, and a position where sputtered particles scattered when the ion beam hits the sputter target adheres to the sputter target. A substrate holder for holding a processed substrate on which a film is formed,
A vacuum processing chamber that stores at least the sputter target and the substrate holder, a supply-side cassette in which a plurality of unprocessed substrates are set, and a receiving-side cassette in which the processed substrates are set are stored in a vacuum state. A vacuum preparatory chamber, a partition valve for partitioning the vacuum preparatory chamber and the vacuum processing chamber so that the vacuum can be shut off, and a substrate before processing from the supply-side cassette in the vacuum preparatory chamber to a substrate holder in the vacuum processing chamber in a vacuum state. And a automatic transport mechanism for transporting the processed substrate on the substrate holder in the vacuum processing chamber to the receiving side cassette in the vacuum preliminary chamber in a vacuum state. . 2. An ion source, a sputter target arranged at a position where the ion beam extracted from the ion source hits, and a position where sputtered particles scattered when the ion beam hits the sputter target adheres to the sputter target. A substrate holder for holding a processed substrate on which a film is formed,
A vacuum processing chamber that houses at least the sputter target and the substrate holder, a supply-side cassette that is arranged adjacent to the vacuum processing chamber and in which a plurality of unprocessed substrates are set, and a receiving side in which the processed substrates are set. One vacuum reserve chamber in which each of the cassettes is housed in a vacuum state, a partition valve for partitioning the vacuum reserve chamber and the vacuum processing chamber so that the vacuum can be shut off, and the vacuum reserve chamber arranged in the vacuum reserve chamber. The substrate before processing from the supply side cassette in the chamber is transferred to the substrate holder in the vacuum processing chamber in a vacuum state, or the processed substrate on the substrate holder in the vacuum processing chamber is transferred to the receiving side cassette in the vacuum preliminary chamber. A film forming apparatus comprising: an automatic transfer mechanism for transferring in a vacuum state. 3. A plurality of the sputter targets are provided,
The film forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein one of them is selectively arranged at a position where the ion beam hits. 4. A film is formed by arranging a sputter target arranged at a position where an ion beam extracted from an ion source hits, and a position where sputtered particles scattered when the ion beam hits the sputter target adheres. A plurality of vacuum processing chambers for accommodating a substrate holder for holding a processing substrate to be processed are arranged in parallel, and a plurality of substrates before processing are set at one end of one of the plurality of vacuum processing chambers. A supply side vacuum auxiliary chamber that stores the supply side set in a vacuum state is arranged, and the receiving side cassette in which the processed substrate is set is stored in a vacuum state at the end of the other vacuum processing chamber. A vacuum spare chamber on the receiving side is arranged, and a partition valve is provided between the respective vacuum processing chambers and between the vacuum processing chamber and the supply side / vacuum standby chamber on the receiving side so that the vacuum can be shut off.
In addition, the substrate before processing is transferred from the supply-side cassette of the supply-side vacuum preliminary chamber to the substrate holder in the vacuum processing chamber in a vacuum state, or between the respective vacuum containers and, of course, on the substrate holder in the vacuum processing chamber. A film forming apparatus, comprising: an automatic transfer mechanism for transferring a processed substrate to a receiving side cassette in the vacuum preliminary chamber in a vacuum state. 5. The film forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the sputter targets in the plurality of vacuum processing chambers are made of different kinds of materials. 6. A vapor deposition cell, a substrate holder arranged at a position where particles evaporated from the vapor deposition cell are scattered, and holding a processing substrate on which the scattered particles adhere to form a vapor deposition film, and the substrate holder. An ion source that generates an ion beam for irradiating the upper substrate, a vacuum processing chamber that houses at least the vapor deposition cell and a substrate holder, a supply-side cassette in which a plurality of unprocessed substrates are set, and a processed substrate A vacuum reserve chamber in which the receiving side cassette to which is set is housed in a vacuum state, a partition valve for partitioning the vacuum reserve chamber and the vacuum processing chamber so that the vacuum can be blocked, and a supply side cassette in the vacuum reserve chamber. The substrate before processing is transferred to the substrate holder in the vacuum processing chamber in a vacuum state, and the processed substrate on the substrate holder in the vacuum processing chamber is transferred to the receiving side cassette in the vacuum preliminary chamber. Deposition apparatus characterized by comprising an automatic transfer mechanism for transferring a state. 7. A vapor deposition cell and a substrate holder which is disposed at a position where particles evaporated from the vapor deposition cell are scattered and which holds a processing substrate on which the scattered particles adhere to form a vapor deposition film are housed. A plurality of vacuum processing chambers each provided with an ion source for generating an ion beam for irradiating a substrate on the substrate holder are arranged in parallel, and one of the plurality of processing chambers is provided with a pretreatment before the processing. A supply side vacuum auxiliary chamber accommodating a supply side cassette in which a plurality of substrates are set in a vacuum state, and a processed side substrate is set on the receiving side at the end of the other vacuum processing chamber. The receiving side vacuum reserve chambers that house the cassettes in a vacuum state are arranged, and partition valves are used to partition these vacuum processing chambers and between the vacuum processing chambers and the supply side and receiving side vacuum reserve chambers with a vacuum valve. ,
In addition, the substrate before processing is transferred from the supply-side cassette of the supply-side vacuum preliminary chamber to the substrate holder in the vacuum processing chamber in a vacuum state, or between the respective vacuum containers and, of course, on the substrate holder in the vacuum processing chamber. A film forming apparatus, comprising: an automatic transfer mechanism for transferring a processed substrate to a receiving side cassette in the vacuum preliminary chamber in a vacuum state.