JPH08225932A - Electron beam heating vapor deposition method and apparatus thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To attain an electron beam beating vapor deposition execellent in the productivity and the repeatability by filling a vaporizing material into a loop-like hearth and returning this loop-like hearth to the irradiating position of a beam spot of the electron beam. CONSTITUTION: The vaporizing material 41 is filled into the whole periphery of an annular hearth 33 (hearth block 31). The electron beam having small energy spot-irradiates the vaporizing material 41 to execute the blowoff of gas. Successively, the intensity of the electron beam is raised to start the vapor deposition and also, the annular hearth 33 is rotated at the fixed speed. The vaporization is caused at the beam spot part (S/e part) by starting the vaporization to form a vaporized groove 41a. When the tip part of the vaporized groove 41a reaches a guide 23, the vapor deposition materiall 41 is supplied to the guide member 23, and the vapor deposition material 4 in a pot 17 is replenished by the consumed quantity into the vaporized groove 41a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an evaporation method and an evaporation apparatus using electron beam heating.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an evaporation source in vacuum evaporation, electron beam heating evaporation using an electron gun is usually used together with resistance heating evaporation using a boat. Electron guns are usually 4
A plurality of hearths are provided, and a vapor spot of high-energy electrons is applied to the vapor deposition material filled in the hearth to vaporize or vaporize the vapor deposition material for vapor deposition.

The heating vapor deposition using an electron gun has an advantage that a material having a high melting point can be vapor deposited. On the other hand, since the hearth capacity is limited, continuous deposition cannot be performed for a long time, and at most several hours are required. It is the limit. Further, since the evaporation material generally contains a component such as water that is easily vaporized, it is necessary to perform a degassing operation for removing gas by preheating prior to full-scale evaporation. For this reason, even if a plurality of hearths are provided, preheating time is required for each hearth, resulting in poor workability.

Further, as the vapor deposition material decreases as the vapor deposition continues, the vapor deposition conditions change due to changes in the amount of vapor deposition material in the hearth (changes in height, shape, etc.), and the film thickness distribution and There was a problem in terms of reproducibility, which affected the quality of the film formed.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an electron beam heating vapor deposition method and apparatus which can be continuously operated for a long time and which is excellent in productivity and reproducibility.

[0006]

According to the electron beam heating vapor deposition method of the present invention, a loop-shaped hearth composed of loop-shaped continuous grooves is filled with a vapor deposition material, and the loop-shaped hearth is sequentially positioned at the irradiation position of the electron beam beam spot. The loop-shaped hearth is driven to circulate so as to move so that the vapor deposition material inside the loop-shaped hearth is evaporated at the beam spot irradiation position, and the vapor-deposition material lost by evaporation is loop-shaped before the next vaporization. It is characterized in that it is replenished and restored inside, and heating vapor deposition by an electron beam is continuously performed.

In the electron beam heating vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention, the hearth block having a circular loop-shaped hearth for filling the vapor deposition material on the surface and the hearth block are rotationally driven coaxially with the circular loop-shaped hearth. A drive member, an electron gun that continuously irradiates a beam spot at a predetermined position of the rotating loop-shaped hearth to evaporate the vapor deposition material, and a replenishment device that replenishes the vapor deposition material lost by evaporation into the loop-shaped hearth. It is characterized by having.

[0008]

1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of an electron beam heating vapor deposition method and apparatus of the present invention. However, in FIG. 2, only the hearth block 31 is shown in cross section. On the base plate 11 (only a part of which is shown) of the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus, a motor 35 (driving member) outside the vapor deposition apparatus
A hearth block 31 is rotatably provided, and an electron gun 13 and a replenishing device 15 are provided around the hearth block 31.

A circular loop-shaped hearth 31 is provided on the hearth block 31 coaxially with the drive shaft of the motor 35. Since the loop-shaped hearth 31 is circular, the loop-shaped hearth 31 is hereinafter referred to as an annular hearth 31. A vapor deposition material 41 is filled in the annular hearth 31.

The electron gun 13 irradiates the vapor deposition material 41 in the annular hearth 33 with a beam spot of an electron beam e, and its irradiation position is, as shown in a partially enlarged view of FIG. It is the center of the width direction.
It is inside the standing wall of the annular hearth 33.

The supply device 15 stores the vapor deposition material and supplies the material 2
1, a supply material 21 for receiving the vapor deposition material from the pot 17 and replenishing the annular hearth 41 with the vapor deposition material, and a vaporization groove in the annular hearth 33 for surely supplying the vapor deposition material by the feed material 21. 41a (see also FIG. 3), and a vibrator 17 that serves as a drive source for supplying the vapor deposition material from the pot 17 to the material 21.

Next, a method for performing electron beam heating vapor deposition using the above apparatus will be described. The vapor deposition material 41 is filled over the entire circumference of the annular hearth 33, and in a state where the annular hearth 41 is not moved, the vapor deposition material 41 is spot-irradiated with an electron beam e having a small energy from the electron gun 13. After the gas is discharged, the intensity of the electron beam e is increased to a predetermined vapor deposition intensity value to start the vapor deposition, and the motor 35 causes the annular hearth 33 (the hearth block 3).
Rotate 1) at a constant speed. Then, both the intensity of the electron beam e and the rotation speed are kept constant, and thereafter, the evaporation of the vapor deposition material 41 in the rotating annular hearth 33 is continued.

When vapor deposition is started, the beam spot S /
Evaporation occurs at the portion e, and the evaporation groove 41a that is deepest at the center of the beam spot S / e is formed. At this time, evaporation does not substantially occur on both sides of the bank 41b to form the bank 41b (see FIG. 3). The tip of the evaporation groove 41a is the guide member 2
When it reaches the bottom of 3, it drives the vibrator 19,
The vapor deposition material 41 in the pot 17 is supplied from the supply material 21 into the guide member 41, and the vapor deposition material 41 of the consumed amount is replenished in the evaporation groove 41a. Evaporation groove 41 supplemented with vapor deposition material
a is restored to the original initial state. Since the evaporation groove 41a is continuous, the evaporation groove 41a continuously reaches below the guide member 23 as the annular hearth 33 rotates. Therefore, this replenishment is also continuously performed.

With this, the electron beam heating vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention reaches a steady state. That is, the annular hearth 33 rotates at a constant speed, the irradiation position and the irradiation intensity of the electron beam by the electron gun 13 are always constant, and the amount of the vapor deposition material in the annular hearth 33 rotates once to heat the electron gun 13. By the time you receive it, it has been restored to its original state by the replenishment device 15,
Under the same vapor deposition conditions, the same amount of vapor deposition material is evaporated per unit time and the same amount is replenished.

The inventors of the present invention conducted experiments by changing various vapor deposition materials and found that ZrO ₂ , T was within the range of the experiments.
It has been found that all conventional vapor deposition materials such as iO ₂ , Al ₂ O ₃ , ITO and MgF ₂ can be vaporized, and it is presumed that almost all vapor deposition materials used so far can be vaporized.

In particular, it has been confirmed that ZrO ₂ can realize a vapor deposition rate 3 to 4 times or more higher than the conventional one, and MgF ₂ is very stable without fear of bumping. The reason why such highly stable and highly efficient vapor deposition can be realized in the present invention has not been completely clarified.
The estimated points will be described with reference to FIG.

The beam spot S / e of the electron beam e does not have the same intensity within its diameter, but the intensity distribution I / e.
Have. Further, the vicinity of the beam spot S / e is also affected by the electron beam heating. Intensity distribution I shown in FIG.
In / e, the lower the curve is, the higher the intensity is. The intensity is greatest at the center of the beam spot S / e, and decreases toward the periphery.

The annular hearth 33 rotates, and the vapor deposition material 41 gradually moves in the beam spot S / e in the traveling direction.
As it approaches to point E, it is gradually heated by E point → D point → C point → B point → A point, and is processed without difficulty such as gas discharge, melting, and evaporation, and is evaporated under almost the same conditions. It is considered to be something. Further, the vapor deposition material around the vaporized vapor deposition material has been gradually affected by the electron beam in the past and has been stabilized. Therefore, it is considered that there is no fear of bumping and the like, and vapor deposition can be performed with higher power than in the past, and the speed can be further increased.

[0019]

According to the present invention, the following operational effects can be obtained. (1) Since the loop-shaped hearth is an endless hearth,
Continuous film formation is possible until the life of the filament of the electron gun is exhausted, and generally several tens of hours are possible. (2) Since the amount of the evaporation material can be kept constant at all times, the vapor deposition conditions (vapor deposition environment, vapor deposition atmosphere) can be kept constant, and the obtained film quality, film thickness distribution, etc. are surprisingly stable.

(3) Since the preheating is performed only at the start and no special time is required thereafter, except for film formation, the productivity can be improved. Further, since stable evaporation can be performed, there is no problem even if the electron beam intensity is increased as compared with the conventional case, the evaporation rate can be increased, and the productivity is further improved.

(4) Since all the vapor deposition materials are simply added, and the supplemented vapor deposition materials are all used for evaporation, the vapor deposition materials are not wasted and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory plan view showing an embodiment of an electron beam heating vapor deposition apparatus and method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory side view showing an embodiment of an electron beam heating vapor deposition apparatus and method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory enlarged view of the vicinity of a beam spot of an electron beam irradiated.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory enlarged view of the vicinity where a beam spot of an electron beam is irradiated.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Base Plate 13 Electron Gun 15 Replenishing Device 17 Pot 19 Vibrator 21 Feeding Material 23 Guide Member 31 Hearth Block 33 Loop Hearth, Annular Hearth 41 Vapor Deposition Material 41a Evaporation Groove 41b Bank S / e Beam Spot I / e Intensity Distribution

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A loop-shaped hearth comprising loop-shaped continuous grooves is filled with a vapor deposition material, and the loop-shaped hearth is driven and circulated so that the loop-shaped hearth sequentially moves to an irradiation position of an electron beam beam spot. Then, the vapor deposition material in the loop-shaped hearth is evaporated at the beam spot irradiation position, and the vapor deposition material lost by evaporation is replenished and restored in the loop-shaped hearth before the next vaporization, and heating vapor deposition by electron beam is performed. An electron beam heating vapor deposition method characterized by being performed continuously. 2. The electron beam heating vapor deposition method according to claim 1, wherein the loop-shaped hearth is continuously driven at a constant speed. 3. The electron beam heating vapor deposition method according to claim 1, wherein when the vapor deposition material is vaporized, the vapor deposition material is left so that the looped hearth surface is not exposed by the vaporization. 4. A hearth block having a circular loop-shaped hearth on a surface for filling a vapor deposition material, a driving member for rotating the hearth block coaxially with the circular loop-shaped hearth, and a rotating loop-shaped hearth block. An electron beam that is equipped with an electron gun that continuously irradiates a beam spot at a predetermined position of the hearth to evaporate the vapor deposition material, and a replenishing device that replenishes the vapor deposition material lost by vaporization into the loop-shaped hearth. Heating vapor deposition equipment. 5. A hearth block having a circular loop-shaped hearth on the surface, a driving member for rotating the hearth block coaxially with the circular loop-shaped hearth, and a continuous member at a predetermined position of the rotating loop-shaped hearth. A circular loop-shaped hearth is used by using an electron beam heating vapor deposition device equipped with an electron gun that irradiates a beam spot to evaporate the vapor deposition material and a replenishing device that replenishes the vaporization material lost by evaporation into the loop-shaped hearth. Continuously rotate at a constant speed to continuously evaporate the evaporation material in the loop-shaped hearth rotating at the irradiation position of the electron beam beam spot, and evaporate in the rotating loop-shaped hearth at positions other than the irradiation position. The evaporation material that has disappeared due to the replenishment member is replenished by the replenishing member to restore the filling state of the evaporation material in the loop-shaped hearth to the state before evaporation, and the evaporation material in the loop-shaped hearth Always substantially the same conditions filling state of an electron beam evaporation method characterized by is evaporated evaporation material continuously.