JPS61229322A - Plasma cvd apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the shifting mechanism and operation by a method wherein multiple CVD chambers airtightly divided adjoining one another in the circumferential direction are formed inside a CVD vessel while a substrate side electrode is shifted to the positions opposed to high voltage electrodes. CONSTITUTION:A plasma CVD vessel 3 is partitioned by a bulkhead 22 with a pair of vacuum sluice valves 4, 12 while vacuumizing chambers 2 (inlet side), 11 (outlet side) and multiple CVD chambers 3a-3e are respectively arranged on the upper part side and lower part side of the plasma CVD vessel 3. A polygonal cylindrical holder (pentagonally formed holder) 8 provided with a substrate side electrode 5 is opposed to high voltage electrodes 9 insulatedly held by sidewall of CVD vessel 3. In such a constitution, multiple rotary wall parts 28 provided with sealing mechanism 6 serve both as the valve seat of vacuum sluice valve in the conventional apparatus rotating together with the electrode 5. Therefore, the shifting of all substrates as well as the opening and closing of bulkhead 22 dividing multiple CVD chambers 3a-3e can be automatically and easily performed by means of one time rotary intermittent pitch feeding without any obstruction as if the vacuum sluice valves 4, 12 are shifted together with the substrate side electrode 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field to which the Invention Pertains] The present invention relates to a plasma CVD apparatus, and more particularly to a thin film production apparatus equipped with a plurality of parallel plate-shaped plasma CVD processing chambers in which film-forming reaction gases are different from each other.

[Prior art and its problems]

6 and 7 are schematic cross-sectional views of the conventional device. FIG. 6 is an overall horizontal cross-sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. This is a side sectional view taken in the direction of the I-■ arrow of FIG. In Figure 0, which is used in thin film generation devices such as L-structure amorphous silicon photovoltaic devices, vacuum 1ff=
A vacuum preparation chamber 46 on the inlet side equipped with a vacuum chamber 56 and a vacuum preparation chamber 50 on the outlet side equipped with a vacuum door 57 are airtightly partitioned by partition walls each equipped with vacuum gate valves 51 to 54.
VD processing chambers 47, 48, and 49 are provided, and each chamber is configured to be connected to a vacuum source 41 to 45 to maintain a vacuum state, and each of the CvD processing chambers 41 to 45 is provided with a film-forming reaction gas introduction pipe. 58 to 60 and a high voltage electrode 61 which is insulated and supported on the vessel wall so that the electrode surface is vertical is provided.

Further, 65 is a substrate electrode which holds the substrate 1 on the surface facing the high-voltage electrode and has a heating means 65 such as a heater and a temperature controller 64 inside. The substrate electrode 65 inserted therein is transported by the transport mechanism 66 with the vacuum gate valves 51 to 54 open.
A state in which the high voltage electrode 61 and the substrate 1 are parallel to each other and maintain a predetermined gap length G - t' CV D treatment 331 chambers 47, 4
8.49t- to be transported to the vacuum preparation chamber 50 on the exit side. Further, 67 is a power supply mechanism section of the substrate electrode heating means 65, and power is always supplied to the moving substrate electrode so that the substrate electrode 65 is heated to a predetermined temperature.

In the plasma CVD apparatus configured as described above,
The substrate electrode 65 holding a plurality of substrates 1 inserted into the vacuum preparation chamber 46 via the vacuum JFli 56 is heated to a predetermined temperature in the vacuum preparation chamber 46 maintained in a vacuum state, and the first CVD processing chamber 47 is heated. In the same way, the vacuum gate valve 5 is evacuated and in the 9 state.
By opening 1 and operating the transport mechanism 66, the substrate electrode 65 is transported to the first CVD processing chamber 47, and the vacuum gate valve 5 is opened.
Close 1. Next, while maintaining the vacuum in the processing chamber 47, a reaction gas for first film formation is introduced from the film formation reaction gas inlet pipe 58, and a voltage is applied to the high voltage electrode 61. A glow discharge is generated in the gap having the gap length G to create a plasma state, and the reaction gas for forming the first film is decomposed and reaction products are deposited on the surface of the substrate 1 set on the substrate electrode 65. 1 film can be produced. At the same time, a new substrate electrode 65 is inserted into the vacuum preparation chamber 46 and preheated. Also the second cv
I) Processing The operation in the VD processing chamber 49 is also possible. The substrate electrode 65 holding the substrate 1 on which six layers of thin films have been formed in this manner is transferred to the vacuum preparation chamber 50 on the exit side, and after being cooled to a predetermined temperature, the vacuum preparation chamber 50 is brought to atmospheric pressure. By returning it to K and opening the vacuum door 57, it is taken out to the outside.

In addition to the above-mentioned plasma CVD equipment, there are horizontal substrate transfer systems,
Some systems are known that use a multi-layer board placement and simultaneous transport system, but in either case, board transport is linear;
In order to manufacture high-quality thin film devices with multilayer structures, the entire equipment becomes long, and the transport mechanism is separated by vacuum gate valves, which complicates the mechanism and transport operation, and requires a long vacuum control. The disadvantage of using this method is that the equipment becomes expensive.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned situation, and aims to economically advantageously provide a plasma CVD apparatus that forms a large number of CVD processing chambers with a small installation area and has a simplified color transport mechanism and transport operation. purpose.

[Key points of the invention]

The present invention forms the entire plasma CVD processing tank in a vertical cylindrical shape, and divides the processing tank in the axial direction by a partition wall having a pair of vacuum gate valves through which the substrate can pass. On one side is a vacuum preparation chamber equipped with a vacuum door for loading and unloading substrates before and after film formation processing, and on the other side in the axial direction are fixed walls and high pressure to partition multiple CVD processing chambers in the circumferential direction. In addition to providing electrodes, the tube is formed into a polygonal cylinder shape corresponding to the number of CVD processing chambers, holds a substrate electrode on each outer surface, is protruded radially from the top corner, and is airtightly connected to the fixed wall through a sealing mechanism. A polygonal cylindrical holder having a plurality of rotating walls formed to fit together is rotatably arranged concentrically with the processing tank, and this polygonal cylindrical holder is rotated by a predetermined angle by a rotary drive member. The fixed wall portion and the rotating wall portion are stopped at each position where they are airtightly engaged through a sealing mechanism, and at this time, the CV
By forming a plurality of airtightly partitioned CVD processing chambers adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction inside processing tank D, and by configuring the substrate electrode to be transported to a position facing the high voltage electrode, it can be formed at low cost. By being able to form a large number of CVD processing chambers in a compact manner along the inner circumferential surface of a tubular plasma processing tank, it is possible to form a plasma CVD apparatus in an economically advantageous manner. It is possible to simultaneously transport all substrates and close multiple CVD processing chambers with a single rotational operation of the shape holder, simplifying the transport mechanism and its operation. This is how it was done.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be explained below based on examples.

1 and 2 are a schematic side sectional view and horizontal sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a mV-m
FIG. 2 is a side sectional view taken along line V, and FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken along line m--■ in FIG. In the figure, numeral 3 is a plasma CVD-treated cypress formed into a cylindrical shape, and is partitioned into two in the axial direction by a partition wall 22 having a pair of gate valves 4 and 12; in the case of the figure, the upper side has a vacuum preparation chamber 2 on the inlet side and a vacuum preparation chamber 11 on the outlet side, and a plurality of CVs on the lower side.
D processing chamber 5a + 54 s 56.5cl * 34
is installed. The vacuum preparation chamber 2 on the inlet side is on one side:
(Pulp 1 equipped with a vacuum door 24 that opens and closes in the direction of arrow F-F and a cock that switches the inside to a vacuum and atmospheric pressure state.
5. A cassette 15a containing an undeposited substrate 1 is stored therein, and the cassette 15 is kept in a vacuum state except when the cassette 15 is being inserted or removed. The same applies to the vacuum preparation chamber 11 on the exit side, which is equipped with the vacuum door 11A, which opens and closes in the negative direction of the arrow, and the pulp 164 and cassette 154.

On the other hand, inside the CVD processing tank 6 below the partition wall 22, a polygonal cylindrical holder 8 rotatably supported by a rotating shaft 18 that hermetically passes through the bottom plate is disposed in the center thereof. In the case of the figure, a substrate electrode 5 formed to support a plurality of substrates 1 is provided on each of the five side walls of a polygonal cylindrical holder 8 formed in a pentagonal shape. A heating means 7 consisting of a heater and a temperature controller for heating to a predetermined temperature is built-in, and a sealing mechanism 6 is provided at each vertex.
A rotary wall portion 28 having a rotating wall portion 28 is provided to protrude radially. Further, from the side of the CVD processing tank 6, a fixed wall portion 26 that airtightly engages with the sealing mechanism portion 6 is provided. By configuring the CVD processing tank 5 to be rotated by a predetermined angle and stopped at the locking position shown in FIG. 2, five CVD processing chambers 3a-4 are formed in which the CVD processing tank 5 is airtightly partitioned in the circumferential direction. I can do it. A high voltage electrode 9 is insulated and supported on the side wall of the CVD treatment tank 3 so as to face the substrate side electrode 5. Further, in the case of FIG. 2, among the CVD processing chambers 5a to 54, 3a and 64 adjacent to each other are used as preheating chambers on the inlet side and outlet side, and 34
, 5G, and 3j are configured to be used as the first to thirtieth CVD processing chambers, respectively, and are equipped with exhaust valves 17a to 17, respectively, and a CVD processing chamber 54.5a.

6d is configured to include a reaction gas introduction pipe (not shown).

In the apparatus configured as described above, the vacuum door (2) is opened and the cassette 15 containing the substrate 1 is opened. is stored in the predetermined position of the vacuum preparation chamber 20 on the entrance side, and then the vacuum door 2. is closed to bring the vacuum preparation chamber 2 into a vacuum state.

In this state, the vacuum gate valve 4 is opened, and the preheating CVD processing chamber 3. An unformed substrate 1 housed in a cassette 15° is attached to the substrate electrode 5 inside the chamber via the vacuum gate valve 4. This mounting work can be performed using a simple magic hand (not shown) that can be operated from outside the CVD treatment tank. After the mounting of the substrate is completed, the vacuum gate valve 4 is closed, the substrate is preheated in the CVD processing chamber 3a, and a new cassette is stored in the vacuum preparation chamber 2. When the preheating is completed, the polygonal cylindrical holder 8 is rotated intermittently in the direction of arrow H by the rotary drive body 10 to move it to the preheating chamber '5. Move the substrate that was inside the CVD processing chamber to the first CVD processing chamber '54.
A film generation process is performed.

Since such moving work is performed with all of the CVD processing chambers 54 to 64 in a vacuum state, the polygonal cylindrical holder 8 is rotated while the CCVD processing chamber 3. 34 are in communication with each other, there is no concern that the purity of the thin film will deteriorate due to mixing of different reaction gases. After the first film generation process has been completed, the second film and the sixth film are generated on the substrate by the same operation as described above, and after being cooled to a predetermined temperature in the CVD processing chamber 54Vc, it is exited via the vacuum gate valve 12. Side vacuum preparation room 1
In the next step, the preparation chamber 11 is returned to atmospheric pressure with an inert gas, and then the vacuum lung 11. It is taken out to the outside via. Therefore, each time the polygonal cylindrical holder 8 is rotated, a new substrate is loaded and a substrate after film formation is taken out, thereby making it possible to perform the film formation process continuously. Note that instead of using a cassette containing a substrate, a substrate-side electrode on which a substrate is set may be used, and a cassette containing a substrate electrode 5 may also be used.

As is clear from the description of the above-mentioned embodiments, the polygonal cylindrical holder 8 is provided with a plurality of substrate electrodes, and the plurality of rotating wall sections provided with the sealing mechanism section 6 are similar to the vacuum gate valves 51 to 54 in the conventional device. Furthermore, since the multiple rotating walls rotate together with the substrate electrodes, all substrates can be moved without any obstacles, just as if a vacuum gate valve were to move together with the substrate electrodes. Closing of the partition walls that partition the CVD processing chambers can be automatically and easily performed by one rotational intermittent pitch feed.

3 and 4 are sectional views showing different embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken along line v-v in FIG. 4, and FIG. - It is a sectional side view of the arrow direction along the M line. This embodiment differs from the previous embodiments in the following points:
The partition wall that partitions the pair of vacuum preparation chambers on the inlet side and the outlet side is removed to form a vacuum preparation chamber 52 consisting of one chamber, and the CvD treatment tank 3 is divided into 10 chambers in the circumferential direction and a second vacuum preparation chamber 52 is formed.
The series of CVD processing chambers 64 to 64 in the figure are formed in two chambers in one CVD processing tank 5.

Therefore, there are two sets of preheating chambers and cooling chambers5. , two sets of vacuum gate valves 4 and 12 are provided at positions corresponding to the 5° chambers, so that two series of film forming processes can be performed simultaneously, and the substrates on which no films have been formed and the substrates in the film forming method can be Since it is possible to perform so-called cassette-to-cassette substrate processing in which one cassette is supplied and recovered, the size of the CVD processing finger 6 can be increased without increasing the size of the CVD processing finger 6, and the vacuum capacity is 2 cL, 11a. Therefore, it is possible to process a large amount of substrates with high efficiency without increasing the frequency of opening and closing of the cassette, and it is also possible to perform cassette-to-cassette processing, which prevents contamination of substrates due to dust, etc., making it highly efficient. Able to form quality thin films.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a main part showing still another embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example where the time required to generate the first to third films or the cooling time of the substrate cannot be made equal to each other. It is something that In the case of figure °, the polygonal cylindrical holder 8 is 8
The substrate electrodes 5 and the rotating wall portion 2511:
The fixed wall part 23 on the side of the CVD treatment tank 6 is a CV for producing the second film.
Two fixed walls are missing in the D processing chamber 6C, and one fixed wall 23 is missing in the CVD processing chamber 54 for cooling the substrate. Therefore, when a film formation process is performed using the apparatus shown in FIG. 5, the preheating processing chamber 6. L, the processing chamber 3c for forming the second film is composed of three sections, assuming that the processing time of the processing chamber 3d for forming the first film and the processing chamber 3d for forming the third film is 1.

In the case of the cooling processing chamber 54, which consists of two sections, the processing time can be doubled. CV
By configuring the processing device D as described above, the substrate electrode 5 is rotated intermittently pitch-fed by a predetermined angle at a constant time, but the processing time is an integral multiple of the time interval of the rotational pitch-fed. Can be adjusted in time range. in this way,
Since the number of compartments in the CVD processing chamber is highly arbitrary, a plasma CVD apparatus with good line balance can be easily provided without significantly increasing the size of the apparatus.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention forms a plasma CVD processing tank in a cylindrical shape that contains a vacuum preparation chamber and a large number of CVD processing chambers,
The processing tank is airtightly partitioned in the axial direction by a partition wall with a vacuum gate valve that allows substrates to be taken in and taken out, with a vacuum preparation chamber formed on one side that allows cassettes to be taken in and out, and a processing tank on the other side. The apparatus was constructed three-dimensionally by dividing the chamber in the circumferential direction to form a CVD processing chamber. As a result, plasma CV
A large number of CVD processing chambers suitable for the film formation process can be formed without significantly increasing the diameter of the D-treated cypress, and by making it cylindrical, 9 CVD processing chambers can be formed at low cost, resulting in highly efficient plasma CVD. This makes it possible to provide the device economically. In addition, the holder that also serves as a hot plate for holding the substrate electrodes is a polygonal cylindrical holder with a polygonal shape corresponding to the number of CVD processing chambers, and a fixed wall portion protruding from the cylindrical CVD processing tank is used. A rotary wall portion provided with a sealing mechanism portion that airtightly engages with the polygonal cylindrical holder is provided radially protruding from the top corner of the polygonal cylindrical holder, and the polygonal cylindrical holder is rotated intermittently at a predetermined angle. The polygonal cylindrical holder was configured to serve as a support and carrier for the substrate, as well as a part of the partition wall of the plurality of CVD processing chambers and a vacuum gate valve. As a result, transport of multiple substrate electrodes and opening/closing of multiple CVD processing chambers (change of partitions) can be easily and quickly performed with a single rotational intermittent pitch feed operation, and vacuum gate valves can be used for each CVD processing chamber. The transport device and operation are simpler and faster than the conventional transport mechanism which is divided into two parts, and therefore it is possible to provide an economically advantageous plasma CVD apparatus with excellent workability.

Furthermore, substrates can be transferred between the vacuum preparation chamber and the CVD processing chamber using cassette-to-cassette processing under vacuum conditions, which has the advantage of maintaining a high level of substrate cleanliness. It will be done.

Note that the present invention can be applied not only to a thin film production apparatus but also to a plasma etching apparatus and a plasma ashing apparatus.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are schematic side sectional views and horizontal sectional views showing embodiments of the present invention, and FIGS. 6 and 4 are schematic horizontal sectional views and side sectional views showing different embodiments of the present invention. 5
The figure is a schematic horizontal sectional view showing still another embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic horizontal sectional views and side sectional views of the conventional device. 1... Substrate, 2... Vacuum preparation chamber (inlet side), 6...
・CVD treatment tank, 3. ~5. -CV D processing chamber, 3. ．．
46... Preheating chamber, 3z, 47... First film generation chamber, 3
C, 48...Second film generation chamber, 3d, 49...Sixth
Film generation chamber, 6450...Cooling chamber, 4.12.51-5
4... Vacuum gate valve, 22... Partition wall, 11... Vacuum preparation chamber (outlet @), (2). 11α, 56.57...
Vacuum door, 5, 65... Substrate electrode, 8... Polygonal cylindrical holder, 9... High voltage electrode, 7... Heating means, 10...
・Rotary drive body, 15a, 154...cassette, 26・
...Fixed wall part, 28...Rotating wall part, 6...Fig. 1 8 Polygonal LTL-shaped lattice plate Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A vacuum preparation chamber formed in which substrates before and after film formation can be taken in and out through a vacuum door, and a plurality of CVDs connected to this vacuum preparation chamber via vacuum gate valves through which substrates can pass. In the apparatus comprising a processing chamber, the vacuum preparation chamber is airtightly partitioned on one axial side of the cylindrical CVD processing tank by a partition wall having the vacuum gate valve, and the cylindrical chamber on the other axial side. A plurality of substrate electrodes are supported concentrically and rotatably in a CVD processing tank, and are closely supported on each side wall surface of a holding part formed in a polygonal cylinder shape and containing a built-in heating means. a polygonal cylindrical holder having a plurality of rotating walls protruding from the holder and having a sealing mechanism at the end; a fixed wall protruding from the holder; a rotary drive body that rotates the polygonal cylindrical holder intermittently and stops it in the engaged state; A plurality of CVD processing chambers are formed to be connected in a direction, and the CVD processing chamber is provided with a high voltage electrode insulated and supported by the CVD processing tank so as to face the substrate electrode with a predetermined gap therebetween. A plasma CVD device characterized by: (2) The device described in claim 1, characterized in that the vacuum preparation chamber is divided into a pair of vacuum preparation chambers on the inlet side and the outlet side, each of which is equipped with a vacuum door and a vacuum gate valve. Plasma CVD equipment. (3) A plasma CVD apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the inlet side and outlet side vacuum preparation chambers are integrally formed.