JPS5814874B2 - Evaporation material supply device for vacuum processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a supply device for automatically and continuously supplying evaporation material to a vacuum processing apparatus.

The applicant previously filed an application for a vacuum processing apparatus as an apparatus for applying thin films to optical elements, electromagnetic elements, etc.

(Application No. 93798, 1978, Application date: August 4, 1977) Furthermore, as an apparatus of this type, a turret type vacuum evaporation apparatus is known, which is disclosed in Utility Model Publication No. 25633 of 1972.

Furthermore, a so-called in-line type vacuum processing apparatus is also known in which a supply/take-out chamber is provided before and after a processing chamber.

Various devices have been proposed in the past as evaporation material supply devices for applying thin films to optical elements, electromagnetic elements, etc. placed inside these vacuum processing devices and vacuum evaporation devices.

FIG. 1 shows a supply method for supplying granular evaporative material, in which granular evaporative material 2 is stored in a funnel-shaped storage container 1, vibration is applied to the input part 1a of the storage container with a pie break-4,
An appropriate amount of evaporation material is put into the evaporation source 6.

The feeding system shown in FIG. 1 is an apparatus that can be applied not only to granular evaporative material but also to solid type evaporative material.

However, with the conventional method of supplying evaporation material by the vibration action of a pie breaker as shown in FIG. 1, it is not possible to introduce an accurate amount or number of evaporation material into the evaporation source, making it difficult to obtain a desired thin film. Ta. In order to efficiently apply a desired thin film to an optical element or an electric vapor element, it is necessary to introduce the correct amount of evaporation material into the evaporation source.

Therefore, for a certain amount (number) of optical elements or electromagnetic elements, it is necessary to form a certain volume of evaporation material into a spherical or rod-shaped solid and introduce it into the evaporation source one by one or several at a time. A thin film can be obtained.

The present invention relates to a supply device suitable for solid evaporation material formed in a spherical or rod shape, and provides a device that can continuously and automatically supply the solid evaporation material to an evaporation source.

The present invention provides a supply control means in an evaporation material supply path that supplies evaporation material to an evaporation source to control the supply of more evaporation material than necessary, and also controls a receiving section of the supply path for receiving evaporation material supplied from the supply path. The evaporation material can be automatically and continuously supplied to the evaporation source in the vacuum processing apparatus by providing the evaporation material in the opening and moving and introducing the evaporation material in the receiving section to the evaporation source.

The present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, 10 is a vacuum processing chamber such as a heating chamber or a vapor deposition chamber of a vacuum processing apparatus, and 12 is an evaporation material 14 such as silver (Ag), gold (Au), copper (Cu), etc. from the outside of the vacuum processing chamber 10. It is a supply route that supplies

Reference numeral 16 is connected to the supply path and is fixed to the vacuum processing chamber by a fixed part that slidably supports a first control rod 18 and a second control rod 20 that control the supply of the evaporation material 14.

A cam plate 22 is configured to be slidable by a motor 24 via a shaft 26 in the direction of the arrow along a support rod (not shown).

18a and 20a are rollers that rotate in contact with the cam surface 22a of the cam plate 22, and are connected to the first control rod 18 and the second control rod, respectively.
is rotatably attached to one end of the control rod 20 of.

28 and 30 are spring members for urging the first control rod 18 and the second control rod 20.

The control rods 18 and 20 for controlling the supply of evaporative material are slidably held in the through holes of the fixed part, and the other ends are configured to be movable into the supply path 16.

Reference numeral 32 denotes a receiving section that receives the evaporative material 14 from the evaporative material supply path 12, and a detailed view thereof is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, the receiving part 32 includes an inner cylinder 32a and an outer cylinder 32b.
It consists of a pair of cylinders.

32a is a rod-shaped evaporator material 14 which has a cylindrical shape and is indicated by a dotted line.
It has a substantially rectangular storage section 32a3 having an inlet 32a1 and an outlet 32a2 into which the a is inserted.

32b is a hollow cylinder that fits into the cylindrical shape 32a, and the receiving portion 32 is constituted by the inner cylinder 32a, the outer cylinder 32b, and the outer cylinder hook 32c.

The hollow cylindrical outer cylinder 32b has a first opening 321)l and a second opening (outlet) 321) which coincide with the inlet 32a1 and outlet 32a2 of the inner cylinder when the inner cylinder 32a is inserted.
2, and the opening 32b2 is at an angle of 18 with the opening 32b1.
Installed at any angle within 0°.

32b3 is a flange provided on the circumferential surface of the outer cylinder 32l.

Cover the inner cylinder 32a with the outer cylinder 32b and connect the opening 32a1 and the opening 3.
2b1, the evaporative material 14 from the supply path 12 is stored in the storage section of the receiving section.

The side opposite to the inlet 32a1 of the inner cylinder 32a is open as an outlet 32a2, or the corresponding position of the outer cylinder 32b is not open, so the evaporative material 14 is stored in the storage parts in the outer cylinder 32b and the inner cylinder 32a.

The evaporative material receiving part 32 shown in FIG. 3 is shown in the case where the evaporative material is rod-shaped like 14a, but it can be applied to various shapes of evaporative material such as pill-shaped, and the shape of the outer cylinder and inner cylinder can also be applied. It goes without saying that the shape may be spherical depending on the shape of the evaporator.

Furthermore, in the embodiment of the receiving section shown in FIG. 3, it is practically acceptable to use only the outer cylinder 32b, excluding the inner cylinder 32a.

Returning to FIG. 2, reference numeral 34 indicates a moving means for moving the receiving section 32 to the position of the evaporation source 36.

The moving means includes a rack 36 connected to the receiving section 32, a pinion 38 that moves the rack 36 to the position of the receiving section 32' indicated by the dotted line, a gear train 42 that transmits the driving force from the motor 40 to the pinion 38, and a transmission. It consists of a conduction means for transmitting information via a shaft 44 or the like.

Reference numeral 46 is a charging control rod for charging the evaporative material 14a into the evaporation source 36, and the evaporative material charging position (the position of the receiving part shown by the dotted line)
By pushing up the collar 32b3 of the receiving part 32, the outer cylinder 32b of the receiving part 32 rotates clockwise, and the outer cylinder 3
The opening 32b2 of the inner cylinder 32a matches the outlet 32a2 of the inner cylinder 32a, and the evaporative material 14a is introduced into the evaporation source 36.

(When the closing control rod 46 moves downward, the collar 3 of the outer cylinder 32b
(2b3 is lowered by its own weight due to the load) 48 is a motor that moves the input control rod up and down.

Reference numeral 50 is a cover for preventing the device from adhering to evaporated matter due to evaporation of the evaporation source 36, and 52 is a shutter for preventing the device from adhering to evaporated matter as the evaporation source 36 evaporates.

Reference numeral 54 is a motor that moves the evaporative matter adhesion prevention shutter up and down.

Next, an explanation will be given of the operation of supplying the necessary amount of evaporative material in response to the position control of the cam plate 22 in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 4a-b-c-d.

Evaporative materials 14a, 14b, 14c, .
They are arranged and supplied as shown in FIG. 4a.

(1) The cam plate 22 shown in FIG. 4a moves to a position where it closes the supply path 12a at the tip of the second control rod 20.

The roller of the first control rod 18 is located at the bottom of the cam surface of the cam plate 22, and the spring member 18 (not shown in FIG. 4)
The tip of the control rod 18 is retracted from the supply path 12a.

Therefore, the evaporative materials 14a and 14b move within the supply path 12a to a position where they are blocked by the second control rod 20.

(2) Next, when the cam 22 reaches the position shown in FIG. Move to a position where the third evaporator 14c is held down.

(3) Further, when the cam plate 22 moves to the position shown in FIG. The evaporative materials 14a and 14b are stored in the receiving section 32 shown in FIG. 2.

The evaporative material after the evaporative material 14c is prevented from moving by the tip of the first control rod 18, so that it is not supplied to the receiving section 32.

(4) Next, the cam plate 22 moves upward in the opposite direction.

See Figure 4d. The rollers 18a and 20a are cam surfaces 22a
The second control rod 20 blocks the supply path 12a.

As described above, the ζ cam plate 22 is operated by means such as the motor 24 and a control cam (not shown) via the shaft 26 (1) to (
4) is controlled to move intermittently and continuously, and the first and second control rods 18 and 20 and the roller 18 are moved accordingly.
Evaporative materials 14a, 14b, 14c...
* is sent to the receiving section 32 from the supply path.

When the evaporative materials 14a and 14b are sent to the receiving section, the evaporative adhesion prevention shutter 52 opens and the motor 40, gear train 42,
The receiving portion 32 is conveyed by conveying means such as the transmission shaft 44, pinion 38, rack 36, etc. to the evaporative material input position shown by the dotted line.

The receiving section 32 is transported to the loading position, and the closing control rod 46 driven by the motor 48 moves in the direction of the arrow, and its tip abuts against the flange 23b3 fixed to the outer cylinder 32b of the receiving section.
Rotate the outer cylinder 32b clockwise.

When the outer cylinder 32b is rotated clockwise by a predetermined angle, the outlet 32a2 of the inner cylinder 32a and the opening 32b2 of the outer cylinder coincide, and the stored evaporation materials 14a and 14b are thrown into the evaporation source 36.

When the injection into the evaporation source is completed, the receiving part 32 returns to the original position shown by the solid line, and when the injection control rod 46 moves downward, the outer cylinder 32
When the brim 32b3 falls under its own weight and the evaporative matter adhesion prevention shutter 52 is closed, the steps (1) to (4) described above are repeated to supply the required amount of evaporative material to the receiving section.

The evaporation materials 14a and 14b introduced into the evaporation source 36 are heated and evaporated by a known method to be deposited onto optical elements and electromagnetic elements.

In this embodiment, the vertical reciprocating movement of the cam plate 22 using the motor 24 as a driving source can be configured by a known technique using a cam or the like.

Further, the movement control of the supply control means and the cam plate 22, the timing control of the conveyance means, and the control of the drive control timing of the conveyance means and the motor 48 for charge control are constructed by techniques using cam timers, relays, etc. Ru.

Next, the effects ζ of the present invention will be described.

1) Since the present invention is structured so that a solid evaporation material is introduced into the evaporation source, it is possible to supply the necessary evaporation material and obtain an accurate thin film, compared to wire or powder supply systems. .

2) Therefore, a thin film thickness measuring device can be made unnecessary in vapor deposition apparatuses that do not require particularly high accuracy in thin film dimensions, such as those used for vapor deposition of reflective mirrors for optical systems, pattern portions of printed circuits, and vapor deposition of capacitors.

3) The evaporation material supply device of the present invention automatically and continuously supplies the evaporation material without requiring any effort by attaching the cassette filled with the evaporation material to the supply port of the supply path provided outside the vacuum processing chamber. obtain.

4) When supplying the evaporator with the apparatus of the present invention, the supply path 12
By matching a to the shape formed by the evaporator, the evaporator can be supplied smoothly.

By making the evaporative material rod-shaped, it is necessary to form the supply paths 12 and 12a with a rectangular cross section, but by utilizing this rectangular cross section, the supply amount can be changed.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the third control rod 60 and the spring member are adjacent to the first supply control means consisting of the first control rod 18, second control rod 20, etc. shown in FIG. 62, a fourth control rod 64, a spring member 66, a cam plate 68, etc., may be provided.

By selectively driving the first supply control means or the second supply control means, the cam plate 22 or 68 is actuated to control the distance between the tips of the first and second control rods or the third and fourth control rods. The amount (number) of evaporation material supplied can be changed by changing the distance between the tips of the rods.

5) The supply device of the present invention transports the evaporation material supplied to the receiving section 32 to the evaporation source 36 using the conveying stage 34, and returns to the original position after feeding, so the supply control means, the receiving section and the transporting means are connected to the evaporator. It can be located far away from the source.

Therefore, the evaporation material evaporated from the evaporation source is deposited only on the optical elements and electromagnetic elements placed in the vacuum processing chamber.
Since the supply control means, the receiving section, and the conveying means are protected by covers, evaporation material does not adhere to them.

As described above, the present invention is an excellent invention having the effects shown in 1) to 5) mentioned above.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional device, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of essential parts of an evaporative material supply device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the components of a supply section used in an embodiment of the present invention. Cylinder 32b and inner cylinder 3
Consists of 2a. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the opening and closing states of the supply path 12a in accordance with movement control of the cam plate 22 and control rods 18 and 20 shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a main part of an application example of the present invention. 10... Vacuum processing chamber, 12/12a...
・Evaporation material supply path, 14, 14a, 14b, 14c...
... Evaporation material, 16... Fixed part fixed to the processing chamber, 18.20... Supply path opening/closing control part, 22.
...Cam plate, 32...Receiving section, 36...
...Evaporation source.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A hollow outer cylinder having a first opening for introducing the evaporative material and a second opening for taking out the evaporative material, and a first opening of the hollow outer cylinder accommodated in the hollow outer cylinder. a storage body comprising an inner cylinder having an opening for receiving the evaporative material, an opening for taking out the evaporative material, and a storage section for storing the evaporative material; means for relatively rotating the hollow outer cylinder and the inner cylinder; It has means for transporting the storage body to an evaporation material supply position and an evaporation material discharge position, and the evaporation material supply device aligns the first opening of the hollow outer cylinder and the receiving opening of the inner cylinder to the storage part of the inner cylinder. evaporation material is stored in the evaporation material, and at the evaporation material delivery position, the hollow outer cylinder and the inner cylinder are relatively rotated by the rotation means to open the second opening of the hollow outer cylinder and the take-out opening of the inner cylinder. An evaporation material supply device for a vacuum processing apparatus, characterized in that the evaporation material supply device is configured to take out the evaporation material by combining the two.