JPH1081966A - Continuous vacuum depositing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum depositing device increasing the efficiency of vacuum deposition, capable of reducing the frequency of maintenance and increasing the efficiency of driving, capable of vapor deposition without overheating a substrate relatively vulnerable to high temps., furthermore capable of increasing the evaporating rate to raise the line speed and to increase the productivity and capable of forming coating of a high quality without causing scratches. peeling or the like in the formed coating immediately after the vapor deposition. SOLUTION: Plural coating drums 12 are adjacently arranged so as to partially surround an evaporating source 3, a substrate 7 is successively passes through the plural coating drums, and evaporating metal is vapor-deposited on the surface. Furthermore, the inlet side and outlet side at the back of each coating drum are respectively provided with a support roll 14, and the substrate is closely adhered to the surface of the coating drum by the support roll. The support roll 14 is composed of a water cooled roll cooling the face to be vapor- deposited in the substrate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a continuous vacuum deposition apparatus for depositing metal on a continuous traveling substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vacuum evaporation apparatus is a film forming process in which a metal is heated and evaporated in a vacuum to solidify the evaporated metal on the surface of a substrate to form a film. 2. Description of the Related Art A continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus for performing vapor deposition is conventionally known. FIG. 3 shows an example of a conventional continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus (for example, JP-A-6-212410). As shown in the figure, an inlet side and an outlet side vacuum sealing devices, a preheating chamber, a film forming chamber, etc. The substrate unwound from the uncoiler in the atmosphere is passed through a vacuum with a vacuum sealing device on the input side, preheated in a preheating chamber, then formed in a film forming chamber, and the substrate after film formation is discharged. It is taken out to the atmospheric pressure by the vacuum sealing device on the side and wound up by a recoiler. The film forming chamber is provided with an electron gun that emits an electron beam and a crucible that contains the dissolved evaporation material, emits the electron beam with the electron gun, bends the direction of the electron beam with a magnetic field, and hits the inside of the crucible. The evaporation material is heated and evaporated, and the evaporated metal is solidified on the surface of the substrate to form a film.

FIG. 4 shows another example of a conventional continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus. In this figure, 1 is an unwinding roll, 2 is a coating drum, 3 is an evaporation source (crucible), 4 is a tension roller, 5 is a take-up roll, and the unwind roll 1 to the tension roller 4 The metal evaporated from the evaporation source 3 is vapor-deposited on the substrate 7 wrapped around the coating drum 2 through the substrate 7 to the take-up roll 5 through the substrate. The continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus shown in FIG.
Unlike the above-mentioned apparatus, there is a feature that films can be formed on both sides.

[0004]

The above-mentioned conventional continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus has a problem that the evaporation metal from the evaporation source (crucible) has a large spread, so that there are many ineffective vapors and the vapor deposition efficiency (catch-up rate) is low. There was a point. For this reason, conventionally, there has been a problem that the frequency of maintenance for cleaning and removing the ineffective deposition material is high, and the operation efficiency of the apparatus is low.

[0005] Further, when vapor deposition is performed on a substrate which is relatively weak to a high temperature, such as a thin plate, a nonwoven fabric, or a plastic sheet, the conventional continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus tends to overheat the substrate surface (film-forming surface) due to radiation heat from the evaporation source. However, there is a problem that the quality of the substrate is deteriorated. Further, the heating rate of the evaporation source is limited, so that the evaporation rate is low, and the line speed cannot be increased (slow) to obtain a predetermined film thickness.

Further, in a conventional continuous vacuum evaporation apparatus, a support roll, a transport roll, a tension roller, etc.
There is a problem that abrasion, peeling, and the like are easily formed in a film formed immediately after vapor deposition, and the quality of a product may be deteriorated.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. That is, a main object of the present invention is to provide a continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus that can increase the vapor deposition efficiency, reduce the maintenance frequency, and increase the operation efficiency. Another object of the present invention is to provide a continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus that can vapor-deposit a substrate that is relatively weak to a relatively high temperature without overheating, and that can increase the evaporation rate and increase the line speed to enhance productivity. It is in. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus capable of forming a high-quality film without scratching, peeling, or the like on the film immediately after vapor deposition.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a plurality of coating drums are arranged adjacent to each other so as to partially surround an evaporation source, and a substrate is sequentially passed through the plurality of coating drums, and A continuous vacuum evaporation apparatus is provided, wherein an evaporation metal is evaporated. According to the configuration of the present invention, the plurality of coating drums are arranged adjacent to each other so as to partially surround the evaporation source (for example, a crucible).
By arranging the coating drum in consideration of the distribution of vapor from the evaporation source (crucible), it is possible to reduce the amount of ineffective vapor deposition, increase the vapor deposition efficiency, reduce the number of maintenance, increase the operation efficiency, and increase the running cost Can be reduced.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a support roll is provided on each of the entrance side and the exit side behind each coating drum, and the substrate is brought into close contact with the surface of the coating drum by the support roll. . With this configuration, the substrate can be held in close contact with the surface of the coating drum by the support roll to accurately hold the substrate during vapor deposition, and the gap between the coating drums is narrowed, and the ineffective evaporant that escapes from this gap is greatly reduced. Can be reduced. In addition, since the deposition on the substrate surface is alternately repeated in one pass with deposition on the coating drum and cooling on the support roll, the temperature rise on the substrate surface can be suppressed, and the substrate weak to high temperatures can be deposited without overheating. In addition, the productivity can be increased by increasing the evaporation speed and the line speed.

[0010] Further, it is preferable that the support roll is a water-cooled roll that is water-cooled so as to cool a deposition surface of a substrate. With this configuration, the substrate surface can be efficiently cooled by the support roll, and solidification (solidification) of the deposited metal can be promoted, and formation of scratches and peeling can be effectively prevented. Film formation can be performed.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, common parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a continuous vacuum evaporation apparatus according to the present invention. This figure shows only the film forming chamber in the conventional vapor deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 3, and the other parts are the same as the conventional one.

In FIG. 1, in a continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus 10 of the present invention, a plurality (four in this figure) of coating drums 12 are adjacent to partially surround an evaporation source 3 (one crucible in this example). The substrate 7 is sequentially passed through the plurality of coating drums 12 to vapor-deposit metal on the surface thereof. The continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus 10 further includes support rolls 14 on the entrance side and the exit side behind each coating drum 12, respectively. The support roll 14 adheres the substrate 7 to the surface of the coating drum 12 and
The gap between the two is narrowed, and the amount of ineffective evaporant that escapes from this gap is reduced. Further, the apparatus 10 is provided with a tension roll 16 for applying a predetermined tension to the substrate 7, so that the substrate 7 is not loosened by the tension roll 16. This tension roll 16
May be provided separately from the support rolls 14 as shown in this figure, or a support roll 14 may be provided which serves as both.

In this embodiment, the support roll 14 is a water-cooled roll, and cools the deposition surface of the substrate 7. With this configuration, the substrate roll can be efficiently cooled by the support roll, and
The solidification (solidification) of the deposited metal can be promoted, the formation of scratches and peeling can be effectively prevented, and a high-quality film can be formed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus according to the present invention, and shows an apparatus capable of performing double-sided vapor deposition. In this figure, 22 is an unwinding roll, 24 is a winding roll, 26 is a meandering control device, 28 is an electron gun,
Further, 3 is an evaporation source (crucible), 12 is a coating drum, 14 is a support roll, and 16 is a tension roller.

In FIG. 2, the substrate 7 unwound from the unwinding roll 22 has one side (front surface) facing down.
After passing through one of the two coating drums 12 and then through the tension roller 16 and the meandering control device 26, it is wound on the winding roll 24 through the other two coating drums 12 with the opposite surface (back surface) facing down. It has become. That is, in this device, a plurality (4 in this figure)
The coating drums 12 of the present invention are disposed adjacent to each other so as to partially surround the evaporation source 3 (one crucible in this example), and the two coating drums 12 on the right side in FIG. After passing, it passes through the tension roller 16, the meandering control device 26, and then, with the opposite side (back side) facing downward, through another two coating drums 12. The electron gun 28 emits an electron beam, bends the direction of the electron beam with a magnetic field, applies the electron beam to the crucible 3, heats and evaporates the evaporation material, and solidifies the evaporation metal on the surface of the substrate 7 to form a film. .
The other configuration is the same as that of the apparatus shown in FIG.

According to the configuration of the present invention described above, since the plurality of coating drums 12 are arranged adjacent to each other so as to partially surround the evaporation source 3, the coating is performed in consideration of the distribution of vapor from the evaporation source 3. The drum 12 can be arranged, the amount of ineffective deposits can be reduced, the deposition efficiency can be increased, the number of maintenance operations can be reduced, the operation efficiency can be increased, and the running cost can be reduced.

Further, the substrate 7 is brought into close contact with the surface of the coating drum 12 by the support roll 14, so that the substrate 7 can be accurately held at the time of vapor deposition, and the gap between the coating drums is narrowed. Evaporates can be significantly reduced. Further, since the deposition on the substrate surface is alternately repeated in one pass with the deposition on the coating drum 12 and the cooling on the support roll 14, the temperature rise on the substrate surface is suppressed, and the substrate 7 that is vulnerable to high temperatures is suppressed.
Can be deposited without overheating, and the productivity can be increased by increasing the evaporation rate and the line speed.

Further, the substrate surface can be efficiently cooled by the water-cooled support roll 14, and
The solidification (solidification) of the deposited metal can be promoted, the formation of scratches and peeling can be effectively prevented, and a high-quality film can be formed.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and examples, and it is needless to say that various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0020]

As described above, the continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention can increase the vapor deposition efficiency, reduce the maintenance frequency, improve the operation efficiency, and perform vapor deposition without overheating a substrate which is relatively weak at a high temperature. And an excellent effect that productivity can be enhanced by increasing the evaporation rate and the line speed, and a high-quality film can be formed without abrasion, peeling, etc. of the film immediately after vapor deposition. Having.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a continuous vacuum evaporation apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of another continuous vacuum evaporation apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a conventional continuous vacuum evaporation apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of another conventional continuous vacuum evaporation apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 unwind roll 2 coating drum 3 evaporation source (crucible) 4 tension roller 5 take-up roll 6 vacuum vessel 7 substrate 10 continuous vacuum vapor deposition device 12 coating drum 14 support roll 16 tension roll 22 unwind roll 24 take-up roll 26 meandering control Device 28 electron gun

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Sato 1st Shin-Nakahara-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Ishikawashima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. Yokohama Engineering Center

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of coating drums are arranged adjacent to each other so as to partially surround an evaporation source, a substrate is sequentially passed through the plurality of coating drums, and evaporated metal is deposited on the surfaces thereof. Continuous vacuum deposition equipment. 2. The continuity according to claim 1, wherein a support roll is provided on each of an entrance side and an exit side behind each coating drum, and the substrate is brought into close contact with the surface of the coating drum by the support roll. Vacuum evaporation equipment. 3. The continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the support roll is a water-cooled roll that is water-cooled so as to cool a deposition surface of a substrate.