KR100762046B1 - Apparatus for depositing large area thin film - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thin film deposition apparatus, comprising: a vacuum chamber, a support member disposed inside the vacuum chamber and supporting a substrate on which a metal layer is deposited, and a distance spaced apart from the substrate by a predetermined distance in the vacuum chamber. A fixed mask disposed between the deposition member and the deposition member to which the cathode is applied, a predetermined opening disposed between the substrate and the deposition member and corresponding to a pattern to be deposited on the substrate; It includes a rotating mask having a rotating rod to cover the remaining portion of the mask except the opening.

According to the present invention, the deposition cycle can be performed continuously for a long time by increasing the replacement cycle of the fixed mask.

Thin film deposition apparatus, mask, large area thin film deposition apparatus

Description

Apparatus for depositing large area thin film with rotating mask

The following drawings attached to this specification are illustrative of preferred embodiments of the present invention, and together with the detailed description of the invention to serve to further understand the technical spirit of the present invention, the present invention is a matter described in such drawings It should not be construed as limited to.

1 is a view showing a part of a thin film deposition apparatus according to the prior art.

2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration of a thin film deposition apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a part of the thin film deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 2. FIG.

<Description of Major Reference Marks in Drawing>

11.substrate 100.fixed mask 200.rotated mask

300. Deposition member 400. Shield member 500. Vacuum chamber

The present invention relates to a thin film deposition apparatus for depositing a thin film of a target material on a substrate.

In general, a sputter thin film deposition apparatus is a device for forming a target material on a substrate by accelerating a cation by plasma and causing the cation to collide with a metal target which is a material of the thin film. The thin film deposition process using the sputter thin film deposition apparatus has the advantage of forming a thin film while maintaining the substrate at a low temperature of about 400 ℃ compared to the chemical vapor deposition proceeding at a high temperature, and forms a deposited film in a short time with a relatively simple structure It is widely used because it can.

The sputtered thin film deposition apparatus applies a negative potential and a positive potential to a metal target and a board | substrate, respectively, and discharges an inert gas plasma. The cations in the plasma then accelerate and collide toward the negatively charged metal target side. As a result, the metal ions separated from the metal target are accelerated to the substrate and deposited on one surface of the substrate.

In this case, a deposition mask is disposed between the metal target and the substrate.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of a deposition mask used in the sputter thin film deposition apparatus according to the prior art.

Referring to FIG. 1, the deposition mask 10 is interposed between the metal target 20 and the substrate 30. The deposition mask 10 is made of an insulator and exposes a part of the substrate 30 on which the metal thin film is to be deposited to the metal target 20. That is, a predetermined opening 10 ′ is provided in the deposition mask 10 to form a deposition pattern on the substrate 30 in a shape corresponding to the opening 10 ′ during the deposition process.

Meanwhile, since the deposition mask 10 is exposed to the metal ions emitted from the metal target 20 except for the opening 10 ′, the deposition mask 10 has to be replaced periodically. Therefore, in order to increase the replacement cycle of the deposition mask 10, a method of increasing the surface area by embossing the surface of the planar deposition mask is used, but this method also has a limitation in extending the service life of the deposition mask. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a large-area thin film deposition apparatus having an efficient lifetime and having a long lifetime deposition mask for efficient use of the thin film deposition apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, the large-area thin film deposition apparatus according to the present invention includes a vacuum chamber, a support member disposed inside the vacuum chamber, and supporting a substrate on which one metal layer is deposited, and a substrate inside the vacuum chamber. A deposition mask disposed opposite to a distance spaced apart from the substrate by a predetermined distance and provided with a deposition member to which a cathode power is applied, a fixed mask disposed between the substrate and the deposition member, and having a predetermined opening corresponding to a pattern to be deposited on the substrate; And a rotating mask disposed between the fixing masks and having a rotating rod covering the remaining portions of the fixing masks except for the openings.

Preferably, the thin film deposition apparatus further includes a shield member surrounding the lower surface and the side surface of the deposition member.

In addition, the rotating rod has a diameter corresponding to the width of the longitudinal frame defining the opening of the fixed mask and is disposed below the frame along the long direction of the fixed mask.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms or words used in the present specification and claims should not be construed as being limited to the common or dictionary meanings, and the inventors should properly explain the concept of terms in order to best explain their own invention. Based on the principle that can be defined, it should be interpreted as meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and the drawings shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical idea of the present invention, various modifications that can be replaced at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

2 is a view schematically showing the configuration of a thin film deposition apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of FIG.

2 and 3, the thin film deposition apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a vacuum chamber 500, a support member 12, a deposition member 300, a fixed mask 100, and a rotation mask 200. do.

The vacuum chamber 500 is a space where a sputtering process is performed, and the inside of the vacuum chamber 500 is decompressed by the vacuum pump 600 provided outside the vacuum chamber 500, thereby maintaining a substantially vacuum state. In addition, an inert gas is supplied into the vacuum chamber 500 to form a plasma atmosphere.

The support member 12 is installed inside the vacuum chamber 500 to fix the substrate 11 to be deposited. The support member 12 is electrically grounded or charged at a positive potential. In addition, the support member 12 is made of a conductive material such as metal so as to enable electricity to the substrate 11.

The deposition member 300 is disposed to face a distance spaced apart from the substrate 11 fixed to the support member 12 by a predetermined interval. The deposition member 300 is a metal target corresponding to the thin film material to be deposited on one surface of the substrate 11 to be deposited, and a high voltage negative potential is applied thereto. When a negative potential is applied to the deposition member 300, electrons are emitted from the deposition member 300, and the electrons discharge plasma of the inert gas in the vacuum chamber 500.

The fixed mask 100 is disposed between the substrate 11 and the deposition member 300 to selectively cover the substrate 11 from the deposition member 300. Specifically, the fixed mask 100 is provided with a predetermined opening 100 ′ corresponding to the deposition pattern to be deposited on the substrate 11. Therefore, a metal layer is selectively deposited on the portion of the substrate 11 exposed by the opening 100 ′ of the fixed mask 100 during the deposition process.

The predetermined opening 100 ′ provided in the fixed mask 100 is formed by mechanical processing, or is formed by a chemical process such as etching.

The rotation mask 200 is mounted between the fixed mask 100 and the evaporation member 300, and a portion except the opening 100 ′ of the fixed mask 100 is covered by the rotation mask 200.

Specifically, the rotation mask 200 has a diameter corresponding to the width of the long direction and the unidirectional frame defining the opening 100 ′ of the fixed mask 100 and along the long direction and the short direction of the fixed mask 100. It is disposed below the frame. That is, the rotation mask 200 includes four rotating rods 210. The four rotating rods 210 are arranged in parallel to each other in a direction corresponding to the lower side of the frame along the long direction and the short direction of the fixed mask 100. In addition, a shaft of each of the rotating rods 210 is connected to an inner wall of the chamber 500 so that the position of each of the rotating rods 210 is fixed.

In order to rotate the rotating rod 210, a separate rotating means (not shown) is required. In the present embodiment, the inner magnet member (not shown) coupled to the end of the rotating rod 210 by the rotating means and the outside provided near the outer surface of the vacuum chamber 500 corresponding to the rotation axis direction extending from each of the rotating rods 210. A magnet member (not shown) is provided.
Here, when the external magnet member is rotated by using rotational power, the internal magnet member is rotated according to the external magnet member that is rotated by the magnetic force. As such, the rotational motion of the outer magnet member is transmitted to the inner magnet member by the magnetic force so that the rotating rod 210 coupled with the inner magnet member rotates together. At this time, the rotating rod 210 is continuously rotated in the form of a free roll, thereby preventing the fixed mask 100 from being completely exposed to the deposition member 300.

However, the rotating means for driving the rotating rod 210 in the present embodiment is not limited to the above-described method. The shaft of the rotating rod 210 is installed to penetrate from the inside of the vacuum chamber 500 to the outside, and connects the rotating gear to the rotating shaft penetrated to the outside. Next, the rotary gear connected to the rotary shaft of the rotary power means provided outside the chamber 500 meshes with the rotary gear connected to the externally penetrated rotary shaft, and when the power is applied to the rotary power means, mechanical rotation is performed by the rotary gear. The movement is transmitted to the rotating rod 210 inside the chamber 500. The rotating rod 210 is driven and rotated by the rotary motion thus transmitted.

As described above, by using a contactless rotation means by a magnet member or a mechanical rotation means by a gear, the rotation mask 200 is continuously rotated to disperse the deposited material.

In addition, the shield member 400 prevents the inside of the vacuum chamber 500 from being contaminated by metal ions emitted from the deposition member 300.

Next, the operation of the above-described thin film deposition apparatus will be described.

First, the deposition member 300 is mounted in the vacuum chamber 500, and the substrate 11, which is a deposition target, is mounted on the support member 12 disposed to face the deposition member 300. Here, the deposition member 300 is connected to the cathode of the power supply (not shown) disposed separately in the vacuum chamber 500, the support member 12 to which the substrate 11 is attached is connected to the anode or grounded do.

Subsequently, the inside of the vacuum chamber 500 is blocked from outside air, and the vacuum pump 600 is operated to depressurize the inside of the vacuum chamber 500. When the pressure inside the vacuum chamber 500 becomes a substantially vacuum state, a discharge gas, such as argon (Ar) gas, is injected into the chamber in a vacuum atmosphere.

Next, a negative potential and a positive potential are applied to the deposition member 300 and the substrate 11 from the power supply device, respectively. Then, an electric field is formed from the deposition member 300 and electrons are emitted from the deposition member 300. The emitted electrons collide with the argon gas charged in the vacuum chamber 500 to ionize the argon gas, and thus the ionized argon gas accelerates and collides with the deposition member 300.

When the metal ions of the deposition member 300 are released from the deposition member 300 by collision, the released metal ions are deposited on the substrate 11 to be deposited.

In this case, the fixed mask 100 is attached to the substrate 11, so that the metal ions emitted from the deposition member 300 are selectively attached to the substrate 11 through the opening 100 ′ of the fixed mask 100. Is deposited.

However, the metal ions emitted from the deposition member 300 are accelerated toward the substrate 11 through the opening portion 100 ′ of the fixed mask 100, and also to the fixed mask 100. In this case, the rotation mask 200 selectively covers the fixed mask 100 to prevent the metal ions emitted from the deposition member 300 from being deposited on the fixed mask 100. In detail, the rotating rod 210 of the rotating mask 200 prevents the fixed mask 100 from being exposed to the deposition member 300 while rotating.

Therefore, the replacement cycle of the fixed mask 100 can be increased.

Next, the effect of this invention is demonstrated by demonstrating the more specific experimental example of this invention. However, the present invention is not limited by the following experimental example.

In this Example and Comparative Example, a metal layer was deposited on a substrate using a large-area thin film deposition apparatus (example) with a fixed mask and a rotating mask and a large-area thin film deposition apparatus (comparative example) with a fixed mask, respectively. . During the deposition process, the replacement cycle of the fixed mask was measured. In addition, the time required to replace the fixed mask and the pumping time to depressurize the inside of the vacuum chamber after the fixed mask were measured.

The replacement cycle, replacement time and exhaust time are shown in Table 1 below.

Comparative example Example Exchange cycle 600 minutes 1800 minutes Replacement time 20 minutes 30 minutes Doubling Time 40 mins 40 mins Total time spent on equal lengths 1980 minutes 1870 minutes

Referring to Table 1, when the fixed mask and the rotation mask were mixed in the deposition process as in Example, the replacement period of the fixed mask was increased by three times compared to the comparative example using only the fixed mask. Accordingly, it can be seen that the total time required for depositing the metal layer on the deposition members having the same length is reduced by about 110 minutes compared to the comparative example.

Although the present invention has been described above by means of limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto and will be described below by the person skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Of course, various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the claims.

According to the present invention, the fixed mask can be efficiently used by providing a rotation mask that selectively covers the fixed mask in a shape similar to the fixed mask.

Therefore, the replacement cycle of the fixed mask can be increased, and the operation rate of the thin film deposition apparatus can be maximized by continuously performing the deposition operation for a long time.

Claims (5)

A vacuum chamber; A support member disposed in the vacuum chamber and supporting a substrate on which a metal layer is deposited; A deposition member disposed in the vacuum chamber so as to face a distance spaced apart from the substrate by a predetermined distance, and to which a cathode power is applied; A fixed mask disposed between the substrate and the deposition member and provided with a predetermined opening corresponding to a pattern to be deposited on the substrate; And And a rotating mask disposed between the deposition member and the fixed mask, the rotating mask including a rotating rod covering the remaining portion of the fixed mask except for the opening. The method of claim 1, The large-area thin film deposition apparatus further comprises a shield member surrounding the lower surface and the side of the deposition member. The method of claim 1, And the rotating rod has a diameter corresponding to the width of the longitudinal and unidirectional frames defining the opening of the fixed mask and is disposed below the frame along the longitudinal and unidirectional directions of the fixed mask. The method of claim 3, wherein A large area thin film deposition apparatus, characterized in that the end of the rotating rod is coupled to the rotating means. The method of claim 3, wherein And said rotating means is a contactless rotating means by magnetic force or a mechanical rotating means by gears.

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