JPS6126776A - Plasma cvd apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To vapor deposit amorphous silicon film uniformly on base bodies, by arranging plural cylindrical base bodies parallelly on the same plane as electrode between a pair of parallel plane plate electrodes and jetting raw material gas to gaps between the base bodies. CONSTITUTION:Plural drums 15 fixed to a holding frame 6 are carried into a heating chamber 1, and heated by a heater 4 while being revolved in arrow direction after exhausting the chamber 1 to vacuum by an exhausting system 15. Next, these drums are carried in a reaction chamber 2 made to vacuum through a gate valve 13, positioned, connected to an earth 10 to use them as anode, and allowed to correspond to a pair of cathode electrodes 7. Electric field is formed with the electrodes 7 while revolving the drums 15, raw material gas is jetted to gaps between the drums 15 from a supplying pipe 8 through holes of the electrodes 7, and raw material gas is decomposed in plasma to form amorphous silicon film on the drum 15 surface. If film formation is finished, the drums 15 are carried in a cooling chamber 3, cooled then taken out. In this way, accumulated film having uniform quality and thickness is formed efficiently.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Technical Field J The present invention is directed to the continuous production of, for example, photosensitive drums for electrophotography by depositing a film of amorphous silicon or the like on the surface of a cylindrical substrate such as a drum using plasma CVD technology. Regarding plasma CVD equipment that can be used, in particular, plasma CVD that can uniformly deposit an amorphous silicon film on the drum surface by appropriately processing the raw material gas.
It is related to the device. [Prior Art] This type of device has a structure similar to a conventional capacitively coupled plasma CVO device if classified based on the electrode arrangement method of the plasma CVD device. However, when this structure is applied to a plasma CVD apparatus mainly used for producing photoreceptor drums for electrophotography, the cathode electrode and anode electrode (drum) are arranged concentrically, which limits the number of drums that can be stored in the apparatus. The structure becomes complicated.

[Objective 1] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the above problems,
For example, the objective is to obtain a mass production device for electrophotographic photoreceptor drums using amorphous silicon photoreceptor material, and to further simplify the complicated device structure of the above-mentioned conventional example, increase the number of drum storage sides, and The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus that advantageously enables mass production of electrophotographic drums and the like and high-speed film formation, which has been difficult with conventional apparatuses, by improving the electrode arrangement method and shape. [Example] Fig. 1 shows a plan view of an embodiment of a plasma CVD apparatus according to the present invention, and 15 in the figure shows a cylinder made of an aluminum substrate formed into a drum shape so as to form an amorphous silicon film on the surface. The drum serves as a shaped substrate. 1 is a heating chamber for heating the drum 15, 2 is a heating chamber 1
A plasma CVD film is applied to the surface of the drum 15.
A reaction chamber 3 is provided following the reaction chamber 2 to form an amorphous silicon film by the method, and a cooling chamber 3 is provided to cool the drum 15 after the film is formed. These rooms! , 2 and 3 have an airtight structure. Reference numeral 8 denotes a holding frame which rotates the plurality of drums 15 around their axes and so that their central axes are on the same plane.
It is held upright so that its axes are parallel to each other, and has a drum rotation conveyance mechanism. Reference numeral 4 denotes a pair of heaters arranged in the heating chamber 1 along the continuous direction of the chambers 1, 2 and 3. The pair of heaters 4 are arranged upright so as to be parallel to each other, and heat a drum 15 arranged between them so that the arrangement direction is parallel to the heaters 4. Reference numeral 5 denotes an exhaust system provided on one side wall of each chamber and equipped with a filter and baffle for keeping each chamber in a vacuum. Note that the reaction chamber 2 has an exhaust system 5 on both side walls thereof. 7 is a pair of flat electrodes as cathode electrodes,
They are arranged upright in the reaction chamber 2 so as to be parallel to each other. The plurality of drums 15 are arranged at predetermined positions between the pair of flat electrodes 7 by the holding frame 6 . This pair of electrodes 7 has a double structure for supplying raw material gas, and
It has a heater 40. Further, each of the pair of electrodes 7 has a hole 7A for ejecting raw material gas inside thereof so that the raw material gas is ejected toward the gap between the plurality of drums 15 arranged at the predetermined positions. 8 was connected to the outside of the flat electrode 7. A raw material gas supply pipe 8 for supplying raw material gas into the double structure of the electrode 7 is connected to the electrode 7 via a pipe 8 to use the electrode 7 as a cathode electrode, and to apply high frequency power to the electrode 7. A power source 10 for supplying a drum 1 held in a holding frame 6
This is the ground for making 5 into a 7 node electrode. A pair of cooling plates 11 are arranged upright in the cooling chamber 3 so as to be parallel to each other. A pair of cooling plates 1
1 has a refrigerant flow path for water or the like inside to cool the drum 15 between which the film formation has been completed. Reference numeral 12 denotes a coolant such as water that is supplied into the cooling plate ll. 13 is each room! , 2 and 3 and are in an open state when the drum 15 moves together with the holding frame 8. The gate valve 14 controlled in this manner is a leak valve provided in the exhaust system 5 of the heating chamber 1 and the cooling chamber 3 to return each chamber 1 and 3 to the atmosphere. The operation of the plasma CVD apparatus configured as above will be explained below. The drum 15 fixed to the holding frame 6 is carried into the heating chamber 1 together with the holding frame B through the gate valve 13 at the left end in FIG. Heater 4 is rotated in the direction shown by the arrow in the figure.
heated by. The heated drum 15 passes through the gate valve 13 between both chambers 1 and 2, and is carried into the reaction chamber 2, which is kept in vacuum by the exhaust system 5, together with the holding frame B, and is placed in a predetermined position for zero reaction. The drum 15 entering the chamber 2 is connected to ground 10 and connected to a pair of electrodes 7 as cathode electrodes.
Form a node electrode. An electric field is formed with the electrode 7, and the surface of the drum 15 is heated by the heater while rotating as shown by the arrow in the figure. An amorphous silicon film is formed by decomposing a raw material gas such as silane supplied into the reaction chamber 2 in the plasma. The gas that contributed to film formation is discharged from the exhaust system 5 on both side walls of the reaction chamber 2.
is exhausted outside. Note that the rate at which an amorphous silicon film is deposited on the surface of the drum 15 is faster as the discharge intensity is stronger and as the gas density is higher (the flow rate of the raw material gas is larger). The intensity is strongest near the electrode 7 and weaker as it moves away from there, so the discharge intensity in the gap between the drums 15 is the weakest.
A drum 1 arranged at a predetermined position in a reaction chamber 2 supplies raw material gas.
By ejecting from the hole 7A of the electrode 7 toward the gap between the drums 15 and 5, the raw material gas density in the reaction chamber 2
The gap between them is the highest, and can be decreased as the distance from there in the circumferential direction of the drum 15 increases. Therefore, it is possible to increase the gas density in areas where the discharge intensity is weak and to lower the gas density in areas where the discharge intensity is strong. As a result, the deposition rate of amorphous silicon on the surface of the drum 15 can be made uniform in the circumferential direction, and thus the drum! The film thickness and quality of the amorphous silicon deposited on the surface of the film 5 can be made uniform. The drum 15 after film formation passes through the gate valve 13 between the reaction chamber 2 and the cooling chamber 3, enters the cooling chamber 3 kept in vacuum by the exhaust system 5, and rotates as shown by the arrow in the figure. While cooling the coolant through the cooling plate 11! From the cooling chamber 3, which is cooled by exchanging heat with the cooling chamber 2 and returned to the atmosphere by the leak valve 14, it passes through the valve 13 at the right end in FIG. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, both of the pair of electrodes 7 were connected to the high frequency power source 8 to serve as cathode electrodes, but one of these electrodes could be used as a cathode electrode, and the other one could be grounded without being connected to the high frequency power source 8. It may also be a 17-node electrode (drum 15 has 7-nodes in both cases). [Effect 1] As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently obtain a cylindrical substrate having a film of amorphous silicon or the like on its surface that has uniform film thickness and film quality and excellent electrical properties. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a plasma CVD apparatus according to the present invention for manufacturing an electrophotographic photosensitive drum. 2... Reaction chamber, 7... Flat electrode, 7A... Hole for injection of raw material gas, 15... Drum.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A pair of parallel plate electrodes arranged parallel to each other, and a plurality of cylinders each having a central axis located on the same plane parallel to the parallel plate electrodes and parallel to each other. a substrate holding means for disposing the shaped substrate at a predetermined position between the pair of parallel plate electrodes, and at least one of the parallel plate electrodes is arranged in the gap between the plurality of cylindrical substrates disposed at the predetermined position. A plasma CVD apparatus characterized by having a raw material gas ejection part that spouts raw material gas toward.