JPS61119673A - Continuous type apparatus for producing thin metallic film - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit the easy regulation of the pressure difference between respective vacuum chambers and to prevent the drop of the metal deposited by evaporation on the surface of a substrate to earth potential by providing partition plates each provided with a thin film of a flexible high-polymer material between the plural adjacent vacuum chambers of a device which sputters a thin metallic film on the surface of the long-sized flexible substrate. CONSTITUTION:The long-sized flexible substrate 2 is passed through a chamber II, a chamber III and a chamber IV from a chamber I and is subjected to a sputtering treatment on both surfaces in the stage of producing a long-sized magnetic recording medium such as magnetic tape. More specifically, glow discharge is generated between the targets 7, 7' in the chambers II, III and the inside walls of the vacuum chambers II, III so that the metals of the targets 7, 7' are stuck by sputtering on both surfaces of the substrate 1. A flat plate 20 consisting of the high-polymer material is attached to each substrate passage port 10 of the partition plates 9-9'' between the respective chambers and a thin flexible film 19 consisting of a 'Teflon(R)' film, etc., is attached thereto. The leakage of the inert gas between the respective chamber is prevented. The metal deposited on the substrate 2 is insulated from the plates 9 by the films 19. The drop of said metal to the earth potential by the contact and the consequent failure of the vapor deposition are thus prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a continuous metal thin film manufacturing apparatus for continuously forming a metal thin film on a long flexible substrate by sputtering.

(Prior Art and its Problems) In recent years, with the spread of magnetic recording media such as magnetic tapes and magnetic disks, research and development of manufacturing equipment for the same has become active.

This type of manufacturing equipment forms a series of thin metal films on a long flexible substrate and then processes the film into a shape suitable for the intended use.

Conventionally, methods for forming metal thin films include coating methods, metallizing methods,
Methods such as sludge, talling, ion blating, and vapor deposition are known.

The present invention relates to a continuous metal thin film manufacturing apparatus using sputtering, which is one of the methods for forming metal thin films, and FIG. 5 schematically shows an example of a conventional apparatus of this type.

In FIG. 5, 1 is a vacuum chamber, and the opening/closing variable pulp 1
4 and is divided into 10-7 by a vacuum pump 11.

In the first chamber, a long flexible substrate 2 (hereinafter referred to as substrate 2) wound around an unwinding roll 3 is guided by a guide roll 4 and passed through a partition plate 9 of the l-■ vacuum chamber. It is sent out from the mouth 10. Furthermore, the sputtering chamber of the second chamber, the m chamber, and the ll
-l1l, 1it-PI vacuum chamber partition plates 9', 9'
The material enters the chamber (1) through passage ports 10' and 10' installed in the 4th section, is guided by a guide roll 4', and is wound up on a winding roll 5.

ff, the sputtering chamber of the [[[ chamber has the substrate 2
Electrodes 6, 6' and a target 7, 7' made of the same material as the metal WI film formed on the surface of the substrate 2 are provided on both sides.

Although FIG. 5 shows an apparatus for forming a single layer metal thin film on both sides, in the case of forming two or more layers on both sides or one side, it is necessary to increase the number of vacuum chambers 1 to II/.

In order to operate the apparatus shown in FIG.
evacuated to below r, and inert gas (
Inject inert gas (such as argon gas) from cylinder 12.
Maintain at around Torr. In this case, the opening degree of the variable opening/closing pulp 14 is adjusted depending on the critical back pressure of a vacuum chamber pump (such as an oil diffusion pump).

When the substrate 2 is moved at a constant speed by the transport mechanism and a glue discharge is caused between the target 7.7' and the vacuum [1, the magic electrons of the target 7.7' adhere to the surface of the substrate 20. , a metal thin film is formed. The substrate 2 on which the metal thin film is formed is wound onto a winding roll 5 by the transport mechanism.

As is well known, the formation of thin films by sputtering is greatly influenced by the atmosphere during sputtering. That is, the state of thin film formation varies depending on the pressure of the inert gas introduced into the vacuum chamber, and generally speaking, the higher the pressure of the inert gas, the more likely it is that the thin film will develop cracks, distortions, and wrinkles. 7, 7'.

For the reasons mentioned above, when sputtering is performed continuously, the vacuum chambers 1 to 2 are often operated at different gas pressures.

In such a case, in a conventional device of this type, an appropriate amount of inert gas is injected from the inert gas pump 12.12' by adjusting the pressure adjustment variable valve 15.15' shown in FIG. (2) A method is used to set the pressure in chamber III.

In this case, the problem arises at the passage port 10°IQ' in Figure 5.
, 10''. The front view of these passage ports is shown in Figure 3, and the smaller the opening area of these passage ports, the easier it will be to adjust the pressure in each of the vacuum chambers 1 to 2. However, ,
There is a limit to how small this opening can be made.

In order to reduce the conductance of gas inflow through these passage ports, there is an example in which passage ports as shown in FIG. 4 are provided. For the passage port in FIG. 4, prepare a rectangular pipe 17 with an opening wider than the width of the board 20 at the passage port in FIG.
6, it is attached to the -C partition plate 9, etc. Although the passage port shown in FIG. 4 can have a smaller conductance than the passage port shown in FIG. 3, it is still difficult to ensure a sufficient pressure difference between the compartments.

If the rectangular pipe 17 at the passage port shown in FIG. 4 is lengthened, the conductance of gas inflow will be reduced. However, problems such as an increase in the size of the device and contact with the rectangular piping 17 of the board 2 can be avoided.
Therefore, this implementation is also difficult.

When the rectangular pipe 17 is lengthened, the substrate 2 to which the metal thin film is attached, which has been formed by sputtering and is currently being sputtered, comes into contact with the inner periphery of the passage port 10, etc., which is usually made of a conductor (stainless steel, etc.), and the metal thin film is attached. The potential of the thin film may drop to ground potential.

When the potential of the gold F4 thin film adhered to the substrate 2 during sputtering drops to the ground potential, the proportion of electrons colliding with the substrate 2 increases, causing a rise in the temperature of the substrate 2.

As a result, the substrate 2 to which the metal thin film is attached may burn, or the metal thin film may be cracked, distorted, or wrinkled.

(Invention a>P] *) The invention of the present application provides a continuous metal thin film manufacturing apparatus that allows easy adjustment of the pressure difference between adjacent vacuum chambers, and/or provides a continuous metal thin film manufacturing apparatus that can easily adjust the pressure difference between adjacent vacuum chambers, and/or The purpose of the present invention is to provide a continuous metal thin film manufacturing apparatus that can prevent the potential from dropping to ground potential.

(Structure of the Invention) The present invention provides a mechanism for transporting a long flexible substrate in a vacuum chamber divided into a number of chambers depending on the application, and a metal thin film is placed on the surface of the long flexible substrate. In a continuous sputtering apparatus equipped with a sputtering mechanism for forming a sputtering mechanism, the inner periphery of a passage hole through which the long flexible substrate passes, which is provided in a partition plate of an adjacent chamber in the vacuum chamber. The above object was achieved by covering the material with a thin film of flexible polymer material.

(Example) Bu1 The present invention will be explained below using examples and drawings. Ru.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which a five-row plate 2 is provided with a conveyance mechanism for a meeting order board 2 in a vacuum chamber 1, and a taring mechanism for forming a metal thin film is provided. is the same as in FIG. 5, and the operation is also the same.

In FIG. 1, parts K having the same functions as those in FIG. 5 are given the same reference numerals I as in FIG.

Partition plate 9. Details of the substrate 20 passage ports 18, 18', 18' provided in the substrates 9', 9' are shown in FIG. A flexible polymeric thin film 19 (for example, a Teflon film) is wrapped around a polymeric flat plate 20 (for example, a Teflon plate) with a large margin around the passage ports 18, 18' and 113'. Partition plate 9 with amenguru 21 and screws. 9
', 9'.

Since the substrate 2 passes between flexible polymer thin films 19 placed above and below, the metal thin film attached to the substrate 2 during sputtering is reliably insulated from the partition plate 9 and the like.

The polymer material flat plate 20 lacks the flexible polymer material thin film 19! ;/
It also prevents the potential of the metal thin film attached to the substrate 2 from dropping to the ground potential even if it is missing.

A thin flexible polymer material [19 is the passage port 18°18' in Fig. 1]
, 18', it is possible to prevent mutual exchange of inert gas in the adjacent vacuum chambers 1 to 1 in the vacuum chamber 1, and to adjust the pressures thereof to a large pressure difference. To adjust the pressure of each vacuum chamber [-W, all vacuum chambers I
A vacuum pump 11 is installed at ~■ via a variable opening/closing pulp 14.

Figure 6 shows that when an inert gas (here, argon gas) is injected into one vacuum chamber (for example, ■) in the adjacent vacuum chambers I to ■, which are evacuated to a level of 10 Torr, the pressure in the adjacent chamber (for example, This is experimental data that measured what would happen.

This result shows that it is possible to easily provide a pressure difference of one order of magnitude between adjacent vacuum chambers.

(Binding effect of the invention) The invention of the present application is as described above, and has the advantage that the pressure difference between adjacent vacuum chambers can be easily adjusted in a continuous metal thin film manufacturing apparatus by sputtering, and/or There is an advantage that the potential of the formed metal thin film can be prevented from dropping to earth.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the continuous metal thin film manufacturing apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a conventional device. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the gas pressure of the other vacuum chamber when inert gas is injected from one of the adjacent vacuum chambers in FIG. 1... Vacuum chamber, 2... Long flexible substrate. 6.6'...electrode, 7.7'...target. 8...Insulator, 11...Vacuum pump. 12.12...Inert gas cylinder. 13...DC or AC power supply, 19...Flexible polymer material thin film. 20... Polymer material flat plate, t, n, m, v... Vacuum chamber.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A transport mechanism for a long flexible substrate is provided in a vacuum chamber divided into a plurality of chambers, and a sputtering mechanism for forming a metal thin film on the surface of the long flexible substrate is provided. In the provided continuous sputtering apparatus, the inner periphery of a passage hole through which the elongated flexible substrate passes, which is provided in a partition plate of an adjacent chamber in the vacuum chamber, is covered with a flexible polymer thin film. Continuous metal thin film manufacturing equipment characterized by: