JPS5910339A - Continuous film forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the continuous film forming of plural substrates, by the electrical connection of a measuring part and a control part for film forming speed or film thickness. CONSTITUTION:A measuring device 7 for film thickness or film forming speed is electrically connected to a control part 10, and a measuring device 17 for film forming speed and a setter 18 for film thickness are provided to the part 10. A shutter 9 is opened or closed by an open/close signal C outputted from the part 10 and the signal C is outputted from an input-output part 11 according to the program stored beforehand in a central processing part 12. The film forming speed measured with an oscillator type sensor 6 and the device 7 while the shutter 9 is open is inputted as form information (d) of film formations to the part 10. The information (d) is inputted with the part 11 to the part 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a continuous film forming apparatus for forming a thin film on a substrate of a thin film functional element such as an IC-FAX.

The first factor is a diagram showing a conventional continuous film forming apparatus.

As shown in the figure, the conventional continuous film forming apparatus includes a processing chamber 1, a gate pulp 2 provided on one side wall of the processing chamber 1 for carrying in a substrate, and a gate pulp 2 provided on the other side wall of the processing chamber 1 for carrying in a substrate. A gate pulp 3 to be discharged, a film forming source 4 located at a position corresponding to the forming M1 position in the processing chamber 1, and a transport means 5 for the substrate 16 disposed inside the processing chamber 1. , a detector 6 for measuring the deposition rate when the film thickness is 1 or more, a measuring device 7 for the deposition rate when the film thickness is less than L, a power supply 8 for supplying power to the deposition source 4, and a deposition source 4 It consists of a shutter 9 installed between the detectors 60 and a controller 11110 that controls the entire continuous film forming apparatus.

The control unit 10 has an input/output unit 11, a central processing unit 12, and a power supply 80 output voltage 141! It is composed of a power setting device 16 that controls the power supplied to the film forming source, a film forming time setting device 14 that sets the power application time, and an open/close switch 15 that instructs the shutter 9 to open or close.

This continuous film forming apparatus maintains the inside of the processing chamber 1 in a vacuum, and
6 is placed on the transport means 5 by valve of the gate pulp 2, and the substrate 16 is transported to the film forming position in the processing chamber 1 by the transport element R5, and then the film forming signal a is sent from the control unit 1o to the power source 8. Then, power is supplied from the power source 8 to the film forming source 4, and a film forming material (not shown) is ejected from the film forming device 4 to form a thin film on the substrate 16. In addition, the size and supply time of the electric power tank are as follows.
These are set by a power setting device 13 and a film forming time setting device 14, respectively. The substrate 16 on which the thin film is formed is transferred to the transport means 5
is conveyed by the gate valve 6 and taken out.
Sent to the next process.

Further, in the conventional continuous film forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, a crystal oscillator type sensor is generally used as a film thickness or film forming rate detector 6. This crystal oscillator type sensor utilizes the property that the resonant frequency of the oscillator changes depending on the thickness of the film layered on the oscillator, and when the thickness of the layered film reaches a certain value. Then, measurement becomes impossible and the vibrator must be replaced.

Therefore, the number of times this vibrator can be measured is extremely small. For this reason, in conventional continuous film forming apparatuses, the shutter 9 is usually closed and the film forming process is continued without measuring the film thickness or film forming rate, while keeping the film forming conditions such as power b and film forming time constant. A worker periodically operates the opening/closing switch 15 manually to send an opening/closing signal C to the shutter 9 to monitor whether the shutter 9 is fully open, the film forming speed, or the change in film thickness within a certain period of time. Then, this measured value is compared with a set threshold value, and the power setting device 16 or the film forming time setting device 14 is operated as necessary to correct the film forming conditions.

However, since the measuring instrument 7 is not electrically connected to the control unit 10, correction for such conditions requires manual labor. It is difficult to keep the film thickness constant, and film thickness control is difficult.
There is a drawback that the product yield is reduced.

In particular, in film formation 1 (for example, in sputtering equipment), the surface shape of the target (Fig. 71 Therefore, even if the power is -W, the deposition rate gradually decreases.Therefore, the deposition rate is monitored periodically.
Although it is necessary to accurately correct the film-forming conditions, it is difficult to do so with conventional equipment.

In addition, in a batch processing method (i.e., a method in which a large number of substrates are stored together in a processing chamber for film formation), which is different from the conventional continuous film forming apparatus shown in FIG. In order to increase the number of uses, the distance from the film deposition source to the vibrator is made larger than the distance from the gold deposition source to the substrate. For this reason, there are fewer particles of the film-forming material that adhere to the vibrator than particles of the film-forming material that adhere to the substrate, which reduces the measurement accuracy of the film-forming rate and, as a result, reduces the product yield. Ta.

The invention is not made in view of such shortcomings of the prior art.

The object of the present invention is to provide a continuous film forming apparatus that eliminates the drawbacks of the prior art, enables automatic continuous operation of the film forming apparatus, and increases the product yield #). The continuous film forming apparatus consists of a film forming source that deposits a film forming material on a substrate, and a measuring device that receives the output of an NFC detector installed near the substrate and outputs film thickness or film forming device i as film forming information. and a shutter installed between the film deposition source and the detector to enable the detector to operate when open, and output a signal to fully open the shutter for a predetermined time at a predetermined timing.
The present invention is characterized by comprising a control section that controls the power value or power supply time to be supplied to the film forming device based on the film forming information outputted from the measuring device at the timing.

The invention will be described in more detail below with reference to embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the invention, and the same parts as those of the conventional continuous film forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals, and the explanation thereof will be omitted. The difference from conventional continuous film deposition equipment is that
The film thickness or film formation rate measuring device 7 is connected to the control unit 10 and the electrical VC.
The control unit 10 is provided with a film forming time setting device 17 and a film thickness setting device 18. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

(a) When the measuring device 7 is used to start the 11th speed IL, the opening/closing signal 0 output from the control unit 10 from the opening 9t,
L open/close 7L, open/close number c tit central processing unit 12
The output is performed from the input/output section 11 according to the program stored in advance. When the shutter 9 is open, the vibrator type sensor 6 and the measuring device 7 detect l'
The film-forming speed limit t is input to the control unit 10 as film-forming information d. This film formation information d is input to the central processing section 12 via the input/output section 11, and the central processing section 12 integrates the film formation information d't over time to calculate the film thickness. When this calculated value becomes equal to the setting value of the film thickness setting device 18, the film forming signal a is no longer output from the control unit 10, the power supply 8 stops supplying power to the film forming device 4, and the film forming ends.

In addition to the above operations, the central processing unit 12 compares the deposition rate obtained as the deposition information d with the setting value of the deposition rate setting device 7,
The output power b'1 of the power supply 8 is controlled so that the two match, and (
The film may be formed for a period of time obtained by dividing the setting value of the film thickness setting device 18)/(the setting value of the film forming rate setting device 18).

(b) When the measuring device 7 detects the film thickness In this case, the central processing unit 12 compares the setting value of the film thickness setting device 18 with the film thickness obtained as the film formation information d, and finds that the two match. The film is deposited up to

In addition to the above operations, when the measuring device 7 outputs the film thickness as film formation information d, the central processing unit 12 outputs the film formation information d.
The film formation speed is calculated from the above and the film formation speed setter 17
It is also possible to control the output power of the power source 8 so that the values match the set value of the film thickness setting device 1B, and to deposit the film until the film thickness obtained as the film formation information d becomes equal to the set value of the film thickness setting device 1B. .

As described above, the invention electrically connects the measuring device and the control unit, opens and closes the shutter according to a pre-stored program, measures the film deposition rate or film thickness, and uses the film deposition information. This corrects the film forming conditions and improves the product yield.

Next, a case in which films are continuously formed on a plurality of substrates will be described. However, in this case, it is assumed that the measuring device 7 in FIG. 2 detects the film forming speed.

First, a film is formed on the first substrate 16. At this time, the C-shutter 9 opens and closes according to a pre-stored program, and the film-forming speed is inputted to the central processing unit 12 as film-forming information d at an appropriate timing. The central processing unit 12 receives film formation information d
Integrate over time and calculate the film thickness. And that! i Mai1i
! Film deposition is continued until f and the setting value of the film thickness setting device 18 match -r.

When forming the second and subsequent films, the time spent on forming the first film is memorized, and film formation is performed for the memorized time.

At this time, the film formation rate may be checked at an appropriate timing, and the film formation time may be corrected as necessary.

Note that the continuous film formation described above can be performed not only when the measuring device 7 detects the film forming device If, but also when detecting the film thickness.

Further, in the above operation, the movement of the substrate 16 into and out of the processing chamber 1 is performed in exactly the same manner as in the conventional continuous film forming apparatus shown in FIG.

As is clear from the above description, according to the invention, the film forming rate or film thickness measuring device and the control unit are electrically connected, and the film forming time or the supplied power can be automatically corrected. Therefore, the deposition time or power supply is automatically corrected periodically for each set number of substrates, making it possible to deposit films on multiple substrates in succession, and the accuracy of the film thickness deposited on the substrates is the same as above. do.

Furthermore, since the vibrator type sensor can be placed at almost the same level as the film forming position, the above automatic correction becomes even more accurate, and the effect of improving the product yield is reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a conventional continuous film deposition system.
- FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the continuous film forming apparatus of the present invention. 1"°・Processing M, 2.s...Gate pulp 4...Film forming source, b...Transporting means 6...
Detection D (oscillator type sensor), 7... Measuring device 8...
- Source, 9... Shutter 10... Control section, 11... Human output section 12... Central processing section, 16... Power setting device 14... Film forming time setting device, 15. ... Open/close switch 16... Board, 1
7... Film-forming speed setting device 18... Film thickness setting device,
a... Film formation signal b... Electric power, C...
Opening/closing signal d...Single MX information〇

Claims (1)

[Claims] A deposition source that deposits a deposition material onto a substrate, a measuring device that receives the output of a detector installed near the substrate and outputs film thickness or deposition rate as deposition information, and a deposition source and detector. A shutter is provided between the sensor and the sensor to enable the detector to operate when it is open, and a shutter that sends a signal to open the shutter for a predetermined time at a predetermined timing and outputs a signal from the measuring instrument at the timing. 1. A continuous film forming apparatus, comprising: a control means for controlling a power value or power supply time to be supplied for film formation based on film information.