JPS629213B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a continuous film forming apparatus for forming thin films on substrates of thin film functional elements such as ICs and FAXs.

The first example of the prior art closest to the present invention is
As shown in the figure.

The conventional film forming apparatus shown in this figure includes a processing chamber 1, a gate valve 2 for carrying in a substrate and a gate valve 3 for transporting a substrate provided on one side wall and the other side wall of the processing chamber 1, and Film forming means 5 installed at a position opposite to the film forming position in chamber 1, processing chamber 1
It has a substrate transport means 4 and a film forming rate measuring means 6 arranged inside the processing chamber 1, and a control signal generation means 7 and a power supply 8 arranged outside the processing chamber 1.

In the film forming apparatus, the inside of the processing chamber 1 is kept in a vacuum, and the substrate 9 to be processed is placed on the transport means 4 through the gate valve 2. The substrate 9 is transported to a film forming position, and the film forming material (not shown) that jumps out from the film forming means 5 is attached to the substrate 9.

During this film forming process, the film forming rate is measured by the film forming rate measuring means 6, and the measured value a is sent to the control signal generating means 7, where it is sent from the film forming rate measuring means 6. The measured value a of the film-forming speed to be formed is compared with the set value, and based on the comparison value, a control signal b is sent from the control signal generating means 7 to the power supply 8, and then, based on the control signal b, the film-forming speed is started from the power supply 8. Electric power c is applied to the means 5 so that the film forming speed matches the set value, and a film forming material is supplied from the film forming means 5 onto the substrate 9 to form a thin film.

The substrate on which the thin film has been formed is transported by the transport means 4, taken out through the gate valve 3 for transporting the substrate, and sent to the next process.

As the film forming rate measuring means 6, a crystal resonator type sensor is generally used. This crystal oscillator sensor utilizes the property that the resonant frequency of the oscillator changes depending on the thickness of the film attached to the oscillator, and once the thickness of the film attached to the oscillator reaches a certain value, measurement becomes impossible. Therefore, it is necessary to replace the vibrator. The number of measurements this vibrator can perform is extremely small.
In the single film forming method in which films are formed by placing the substrates one by one facing the film forming means 5, the frequency of replacing the vibrator increases.

Furthermore, although the processing chamber 1 is kept in a vacuum, it usually takes a long time, several hours, to return the processing chamber 1 to the original vacuum after the processing chamber 1 is brought to atmospheric pressure in order to replace the vibrator.

Therefore, when continuously forming a film using a conventional single-layer film forming apparatus, there is a drawback that the down time of the apparatus due to the replacement of the vibrator is long, and the operating rate of the film forming apparatus is significantly reduced. In addition, it is difficult to realize the quality of the vacuum in the processing chamber 1 with good reproducibility, and as a result, the quality of the film, which is sensitively affected by the quality of the vacuum, is affected, resulting in a reduction in product yield.

In the batch processing method, which is different from the above-mentioned film forming apparatus, in which a large number of substrates are stored in a processing chamber at once and film formed, in order to increase the number of times the vibrator is used, The distance to the vibrator is made larger than the distance from the film forming means to the substrate. For this reason, the amount of film-forming material that adheres to the vibrator is smaller than the amount of film-forming material that adheres to the substrate, which reduces the measurement accuracy of the film-forming rate and ultimately reduces the product yield. It was hot.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a continuous film forming apparatus which can eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art, improve the operating rate of the film forming apparatus, and improve the yield of products.

A feature of the present invention is that a shutter is arranged between the film forming means and the film forming rate measuring means provided inside the processing chamber, and a measurement timing command means is installed outside the processing chamber, and the measurement timing command means is controlled. The apparatus is connected to a signal generating means and is configured to send an opening/closing signal to the shutter through the control signal generating means after a set number of films have been deposited.With this configuration, all of the above objects can be achieved.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which a processing chamber 1, a gate valve 2 for carrying in substrates, a gate valve 3 for carrying out substrates, provided on one side wall and the other side wall of the processing chamber 1, and a gate valve 3 for carrying out substrates, A transport means 4 is arranged in the chamber 1, a film forming means 5 is mounted at a position opposite to the film forming position in the processing chamber 1, and a film forming means is arranged at almost the same level as the film forming position in the processing chamber 1. It includes a speed measuring means 6, a control signal generating means 7 installed outside the processing chamber 1, and a power source 8 connected thereto.

The inside of the processing chamber 1 is kept in a vacuum, and the substrate 9 to which a thin film is to be attached or formed is sent into the processing chamber 1 through the gate valve 2, placed on the transport means 4, and transported to the film forming position. At this position, the film forming material supplied from the film forming means 5 is deposited onto the substrate 9.

During this film forming process, the film forming rate is measured by the film forming rate measuring means 6, and the measured value a is sent to the control signal generating means 7. The control signal generating means 7 compares the measured value a with a set value, and sends a control signal b to the power source 8 based on this comparison value.

Next, power c is applied from the power source 8 to the film forming means 5 so that the film forming speed reaches the set value, and the film forming material is supplied from the film forming means 5 in response to the electric power c, and is deposited on the substrate 9. A thin film is deposited and formed.

The substrate on which the thin film of a predetermined thickness has been formed is transported toward the gate valve 3 by the transport means 4, taken out from the gate valve 3, and sent to the next process.

The present invention provides a film forming apparatus as described above, in which a shutter 10 is disposed between the film forming means 5 and the film forming rate measuring means 6, a measurement timing command means 11 is installed outside the processing chamber 1, and the measurement Timing command means 11
is connected to send the measurement instruction signal d to the control signal generating means 7, and the shutter 10 is connected so as to operate upon receiving the opening/closing signal e from the control signal generating means 7.

The measurement timing command means 11 includes a sheet number setting device, a counter, and a comparator, and sets an arbitrary number of sheets using the sheet number setting device and inserts the set value into the comparator. Each time a substrate on which a thin film is formed is carried out from the gate valve 3 for use, it is counted and sent to a comparator, and the comparator compares the set value with the number of substrates carried out,
When the number of unloaded boards reaches the set value,
It is configured to send a measurement instruction signal d to the control signal generating means 7.

The shutter 10 is operated for a certain period of time by an opening/closing signal e sent from the control signal generation means 7 based on a measurement instruction signal d from the measurement timing command means 11.
It is now being operated to open.

The continuous film forming apparatus of the above embodiment operates as follows.

That is, when forming a film on the first substrate 9 to be formed, the shutter 10 is opened by the opening/closing signal e from the control signal generating means 7, and the shutter 10 is opened so that the film forming rate measuring means 6 functions.

Next, a film-forming material is supplied onto the substrate 9 from the film-forming means 5, and the film-forming material is deposited thereon, and the film-forming speed is measured by the film-forming speed measuring means 6, and a control signal is generated based on the measured value as described above. The control signal generating means 7 compares the measured value and the set value, and based on the comparison value, the control signal b is sent from the control signal generating means 7 to the power supply 8, and the control signal b is sent to the power source 8. Electric power e is sent to the film means 5, and the film formation rate is controlled to match the set value.

After a certain period of time has elapsed, that is, after the time period during which a thin film has been applied to at least one substrate 9 has elapsed, the shutter 10 is operated to close by the opening/closing signal e from the control signal generating means 7, and the film forming rate measuring means 6 starts the film forming process. It is covered by a shutter 10 to prevent material from adhering.

Next, each time the substrate on which the thin film has been formed is carried out from the gate valve 3 for carrying out the substrate, it is counted by the counter of the measurement timing command means 11, and the counted value is sent to the setting device, and the setting set in advance by the setting device is performed. When the number of substrates carried out from the gate valve 3 reaches the set value, a measurement instruction signal d is sent from the measurement timing command means 11 to the control signal generation means 7, and the control signal is generated as described above. The opening/closing signal e is sent from the generating means 7 to the shutter 10, and the shutter 10
is opened again for a certain period of time, the film forming rate measuring means 6 is activated, and after the certain period of time has elapsed, the shutter 10 is closed and the film forming rate measuring means 6 is covered again.

The above operation is repeated for each set number of substrates 9, and the film formation rate is measured each time.

Therefore, the film forming rate measuring means 6 is opened and operated every time a set number of substrates 9 are formed, such as 50, and is covered by the shutter 10 when not in operation. It is possible to dramatically increase the number of substrates 9 that can be processed for film formation until they need to be replaced.

Note that the other configurations and operations are the same as those described with reference to FIG.

In addition, although the above-mentioned embodiment describes a case in which feedback control is applied to the electric power so that the film deposition rate is constant, the present invention is not limited to this, and can also be applied to a time control system that controls the film deposition time. .

The present invention has the configuration and operation described above,
By linking the measurement timing command means, the control signal generation means, and the shutter, the film formation rate measurement means is activated for each set number of substrates, and when it is not activated, it is covered by the shutter to prevent deposition material from adhering to the film formation rate. As a result, the number of substrates to be processed before the film speed measuring means needs to be replaced can be greatly increased, which has the effect of significantly improving the operation rate of the film forming equipment, and also reduces the number of times the process chamber changes from vacuum to atmospheric pressure. The vacuum quality can be maintained stably, and the measurement accuracy can be improved because the deposition rate measuring means can be placed at almost the same level as the deposition position on the substrate. Furthermore, it also has the effect of improving product yield.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional film forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Processing chamber, 4... Substrate film forming means, 5... Film forming means, 6... Film forming rate measuring means, 7... Control signal generating means, 8... Power supply, 9... Substrate, 10... Shutter, 11
...Measurement timing command means, a...Measurement value of film formation rate, b
...Power supply control signal, c...Electric power, d...Measurement instruction signal, e...Shutter opening/closing signal.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Substrates are sequentially carried into a processing chamber kept in a vacuum, and a film forming means connected to a power supply supplies and deposits a film forming material onto the substrate, and a film forming rate is measured by a film forming rate measuring means. Then, the measured value is sent to a control signal generating means, and the control signal generating means sends a control signal to the power supply based on the measured film forming speed to control the film forming speed, and the substrate on which the thin film is formed is processed. In a type of film forming apparatus that is carried out one after another from the processing chamber, a shutter is disposed between the film forming means and the film forming rate measuring means provided in the processing chamber, and a measurement timing command means is installed outside the processing chamber. ,
A continuous film forming apparatus characterized in that the measurement timing command means is connected to the control signal generating means, and the control signal generating means sends an opening/closing signal to the shutter after a set number of films have been formed.