KR102149172B1 - Material supply and evaporation equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

A material supply device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a material supply chamber, a melting furnace, at least one container, a supply unit, and a conveyance unit. The material supply chamber is provided outside the evaporation chamber and is configured to be maintained in a reduced pressure atmosphere. The melting furnace is provided in the material supply chamber to dissolve the evaporation material. The container holds the molten metal of the evaporation material dissolved in the melting furnace. The supply unit is attached to the melting furnace and supplies the molten metal from the melting furnace to the container. The conveying unit is configured to be capable of conveying the ingot of the evaporation material supplied from the supply unit and solidified in the container to the evaporation chamber together with the container.

Description

Material supply and evaporation equipment

The present invention relates to a material supply device for supplying an evaporation material to an evaporation source, and a vapor deposition apparatus including the same.

A vacuum vapor deposition apparatus is known in which vapor of an evaporation material (also referred to as an evaporation material) is deposited on a substrate and, for example, a metal film is formed on the substrate. Various methods such as resistance heating, induction heating, and electron beam heating are known as the evaporation source of the vacuum evaporation apparatus, and vapor of the evaporation material is generated by dissolving and evaporating the evaporation material contained in the crucible by heating or irradiation with an electron beam. .

In a vapor deposition apparatus, from the viewpoint of productivity, there is known a vapor deposition apparatus configured to be capable of supplying an evaporation material to a crucible intermittently or continuously while maintaining the inside of the evaporation chamber in a predetermined reduced pressure atmosphere. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of intermittently supplying an evaporation material molded in a pellet form to a crucible (over a certain period of time), and Patent Document 2 discloses an evaporation formed in a wire form. A technology for continuously supplying a material to a crucible is disclosed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 5-128518 Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 7-286266

However, in the method of supplying a pellet-shaped evaporation material to a crucible, there is a problem that since it is basically intermittent supply, the evaporation rate is liable to fluctuate, and thus it is difficult to form a metal film having a uniform thickness. Further, in the method of supplying the wire-shaped evaporation material to the crucible, fluctuations in the evaporation rate can be suppressed because continuous supply is possible, but there is a problem in that a material that is difficult to process into a wire is expensive.

In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a material supply device capable of supplying an evaporation material to a vapor deposition chamber without changing the evaporation rate, without requiring shape processing of an evaporation material, and a vapor deposition apparatus including the same. It is in doing.

In order to achieve the above object, a material supply device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a material supply chamber, a melting furnace, at least one container, a supply unit, and a conveyance unit.

The material supply chamber is provided outside the evaporation chamber and is configured to be maintained in a reduced pressure atmosphere.

The melting furnace is provided in the material supply chamber to dissolve the evaporation material.

The container holds the molten metal of the evaporation material dissolved in the melting furnace.

The supply unit is attached to the melting furnace and supplies the molten metal from the melting furnace to the container.

The conveying unit is configured to be capable of conveying the ingot of the evaporation material supplied from the supply unit and solidified in the container to the evaporation chamber together with the container.

Since the material supplying device is configured so that the material supplying chamber can be held in a reduced pressure atmosphere, the evaporation material can be conveyed to the evaporation chamber without opening the evaporation chamber to the atmosphere.

In addition, the evaporation material conveyed to the evaporation chamber is an ingot supplied from the melting furnace in a molten metal state to the vessel and solidified in the vessel, and is transported together with the vessel to the evaporation chamber, and reheated in the evaporation chamber in that state to evaporate. Therefore, shape processing of the evaporation material is unnecessary, and it becomes possible to stably supply even a relatively soft metal material as the evaporation material.

Further, since the evaporation material is conveyed in units of containers, it becomes possible to supply the evaporation material to the evaporation chamber without changing the evaporation rate.

Then, the evaporation material is dissolved, supplied into the container, and conveyed to the evaporation chamber in a vacuum uniform manner. For this reason, oxidation of the evaporation material, deterioration due to adhesion of moisture, and the like are prevented, and it becomes possible to stably supply a high-quality evaporation material to the evaporation chamber.

The container may include a plurality of containers each capable of containing the evaporation material. In this case, the material supply device further includes a support including an index table capable of sequentially moving the plurality of containers to the supply position of the evaporation material by the supply unit.

Thereby, since the evaporation material to be provided to the evaporation chamber can be efficiently prepared, the time required for supplying the evaporation material to the evaporation chamber can be shortened.

The supply unit may have a tapping mechanism and a guide member.

The tapping mechanism has a shaft member that liquid-tightly penetrates the bottom of the melting furnace and has at least one concave portion on an outer circumferential surface thereof, and a drive source for reciprocating the shaft member along its axial direction. The hot water tapping mechanism is configured to be capable of discharging a predetermined amount of molten metal to the outside of the melting furnace by reciprocating movement of the shaft member in the axial direction.

The guide member is installed at the bottom of the melting furnace to guide the predetermined amount of molten metal discharged to the outside of the melting furnace to the container.

Thereby, it is possible to suppress a difference in the amount of evaporation material for each container.

The tapping mechanism may further have a storage portion provided at the bottom of the melting furnace. The storage unit is configured to be capable of storing the predetermined amount of molten metal, and the shaft member liquid-tightly penetrates the storage unit. In addition, the driving source is between a first position for supplying the molten metal to the storage unit from the melting furnace through the concave portion and a second position for supplying the molten metal to the guide member from the storage unit through the concave portion. Throughout, the shaft member is configured to be movable.

The material supply device may further include a transfer chamber capable of accommodating the transfer unit and being maintained in a reduced pressure atmosphere.

By allowing the material supply chamber and the conveyance chamber to be atmospherically blocked, it is possible to prevent atmospheric contamination or contamination in the evaporation chamber.

A vapor deposition apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a vapor deposition unit, a material supply chamber, a melting furnace, a first support unit, a supply unit, and a transfer unit.

The evaporation unit has a evaporation chamber.

The material supply chamber is provided outside the evaporation chamber and is configured to be maintained in a reduced pressure atmosphere.

The melting furnace is provided in the material supply chamber to dissolve the evaporation material.

The first support portion includes at least one container capable of receiving the molten metal of the evaporation material dissolved in the melting furnace.

The supply unit supplies the molten metal from the melting furnace to the container.

The conveying unit is configured to be capable of conveying the ingot of the evaporation material supplied from the supply unit and solidified in the container from the first support part to the evaporation chamber together with the container.

The evaporation unit may further include a support provided in the evaporation chamber to support the vessel, and an electron gun configured to be capable of irradiating an electron beam onto the ingot accommodated in the vessel to be supported.

The container may include a plurality of containers each capable of containing the evaporation material. In this case, the support further includes an index table capable of sequentially moving the plurality of containers to an irradiation position of the electron beam from the electron gun.

As described above, according to the present invention, shape processing of the evaporation material is unnecessary, and the evaporation material can be supplied to the evaporation chamber without changing the evaporation rate.

1 is a schematic side cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a vapor deposition apparatus including a material supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[FIG. 2] A and B are side cross-sectional views schematically showing the configuration of a melting furnace and a tapping mechanism in a vapor material supplying device.
Fig. 3 is a side cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration of a supply unit of a molten metal of an evaporation material in a material supply mechanism according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<First embodiment>

1 is a schematic side cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a vapor deposition apparatus including a material supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis are three-axis directions orthogonal to each other, the X-axis and Y-axis show the horizontal direction, and the Z-axis shows the height direction.

[Overall configuration of deposition device]

As shown in FIG. 1, the vapor deposition apparatus 100 includes a vapor deposition unit 10 and a material supply mechanism 20 (material supply device) that supplies an evaporation material to the vapor deposition unit 10.

(Deposition)

The evaporation unit 10 includes an evaporation chamber 11, a substrate storage unit 12 for holding the substrate S, a support 13 for supporting the evaporation material M, and an evaporation material M It has an electron gun 14 that irradiates an electron beam E to it.

The evaporation chamber 11 is connected to the first vacuum exhaust system 51 and is constituted by a vacuum chamber capable of evacuating or maintaining the interior in a predetermined reduced pressure atmosphere.

The substrate holding portion 12 is provided above the inside of the evaporation chamber 11 and is configured to be capable of supporting the film-forming surface of the substrate S downward. In the present embodiment, the substrate holding portion 12 is configured to be rotatable around the rotation axis A1 in the XY plane while holding the substrate S.

As the substrate S, typically, a rectangular or circular plate-like substrate such as a glass substrate and a semiconductor substrate is used, but the substrate is not limited thereto, and a flexible substrate such as a plastic film is used. It may be used.

The support 13 is provided near the bottom of the evaporation chamber 11 and makes it possible to support the evaporation material M to be deposited on the film-forming surface of the substrate S together with the container H containing it. Consists of. In the present embodiment, the support base 13 includes a disk-shaped index table that can rotate around the rotation axis A2 in the XY plane while supporting the plurality of containers H. The support base 13 incorporates a cooling mechanism capable of circulating a refrigerant such as coolant, and a plurality of containers H are disposed on the same circumference on the upper surface of the support base 13 at predetermined intervals. The number of containers H that can be disposed on the support base 13 is not particularly limited, and may be one, but is typically a plurality.

The support base 13 sequentially supplies one arbitrary container H (evaporation material M) from the standby position P1 to the evaporation position P2. At the standby position P1, at one or two or more positions for temporarily waiting for the container H for containing the used or pre-used evaporation material, the evaporation material M is interposed between the material supply mechanism 20 Includes the location of the exchange with the container (H). The evaporation position P2 is a position at which the electron beam E from the electron gun 14 is irradiated onto the evaporation material M, and in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the substrate S on the substrate holding portion 12 It is set to the position facing the center of) and in the Z-axis direction.

The electron gun 14 is provided in the vicinity of the support base 13 and is configured to be capable of irradiating the electron beam E to the evaporation material M set at the evaporation position P2. The electron gun 14 is composed of a magnetic field deflection type (transverse) electron gun, but is not limited thereto, and other types of electron guns such as a pierced electron gun may be employed.

In addition, although not shown, the evaporation unit 10 is a magnet for deflecting the electron beam E toward the evaporation material M on the evaporation position P2, and a substrate for loading and unloading the substrate S into and out of the evaporation chamber 11 A gas introduction line for introducing a process gas into the transfer chamber and the evaporation chamber 11 are provided. In addition, the support base 13 is not limited to one, and may be provided in two or more. In this case, a plurality of electron guns 14 may also be provided corresponding to the number of the supports 13.

The material supply mechanism 20 includes a material supply unit 30 that supplies the evaporation material M, and a conveyance unit 40 that transfers the evaporation material M from the material supply unit 30 to the evaporation unit 10. .

(Material supply)

The material supply unit 30 includes a material supply chamber 31, a melting furnace 32 for dissolving the evaporation material, a support 33 for supporting a container H capable of receiving the molten metal M1 of the evaporation material, It has a supply unit 34 for supplying the molten metal M1 from the melting furnace 32 to the container H.

The material supply chamber 31 is provided outside the evaporation chamber 11 and is constituted by a vacuum chamber independent of the evaporation chamber 11. That is, the material supply chamber 31 is configured to be connected to the second vacuum exhaust system 52 so that the interior can be evacuated or maintained in a predetermined reduced pressure atmosphere.

The melting furnace 32 is installed inside the material supply chamber 31 and, as described later, has an inner space for accommodating a bulk evaporation material, and a heater for heating the evaporation material to a predetermined temperature and dissolving it. . The inside of the melting furnace 32 can be evacuated to a predetermined reduced pressure atmosphere together with the material supply chamber 31, whereby the melting furnace 32 functions as a vacuum melting furnace.

Both the material supply chamber 31 and the melting furnace 32 have canopies (not shown) that can be opened and closed, and through these canopies, it is possible to inject a bulk evaporation material into the inner space of the melting furnace 32 do.

The container H can accommodate the molten metal M1 of the evaporation material dissolved in the melting furnace 32, and in this embodiment, it is made of a heat insulating material such as carbon or ceramic, such as a Haas or Haas liner used for an electron beam evaporation source. Is composed. A flange portion Fh is integrally formed around the upper opening of the container H, and the container H is held by the conveying unit 42 of the conveying portion 40 through the flange portion Fh. . The capacity of the container H is not particularly limited, and is selected according to the specifications of the evaporation material M and the evaporation unit 10, and a container having a capacity of, for example, about 110 cc is used in this embodiment.

In addition, the kind of metal material used as the evaporation material is not particularly limited, and various metal materials capable of electron beam evaporation are used. In this embodiment, a bulky and relatively soft metal material such as tin (Sn), tantalum (Ta), aluminum (Al), lithium (Li), and indium (In) is used.

The supply unit 34 is attached to the melting furnace 32 and is configured to supply the molten metal M1 from the melting furnace 32 to the container H. The supply unit 34 has a tapping mechanism 35 and a guide member 36.

The tapping mechanism 35 is configured to be capable of discharging a predetermined amount of molten metal M2 to the outside of the melting furnace 32 from the molten metal M1 of evaporation material in the melting furnace 32. The guide member 36 is provided at the bottom of the melting furnace 32 and is configured to be able to guide the predetermined amount of molten metal M2 discharged to the outside of the melting furnace 32 to the container H.

2A and 2B are side cross-sectional views of main portions schematically showing the configurations of the melting furnace 32 and the tapping mechanism 35.

As shown in Fig. 2A, the melting furnace 32 includes a furnace wall 322 containing a heater (heating wire) 321, a jacket portion 324 containing a refrigerant circulation passage 323, and a lining material 325. ). The jacket portion 324 is for preventing heat from the furnace wall 322 from being transmitted to the outside of the melting furnace 321 and is provided on the outer surface of the furnace wall 322. The lining material 325 is for lowering the wettability (or affinity) between the inner surface of the furnace wall 322 and the molten metal M1 of the evaporation material, and is provided on the inner surface of the furnace wall 322. The lining material 325 is made of, for example, a carbon-based material such as graphite.

The tapping mechanism 35 has a shaft portion 351 and a drive source 352.

The shaft portion 351 is disposed inside the guide member 36 and is made of a cylindrical high melting point metallic material that liquid-tightly penetrates the bottom of the melting furnace 32. The inner circumferential surface of the bottom hole 326 of the melting furnace 32 through which the shaft portion 351 passes is covered with a lining material 325, and the shaft portion 351 is in the axial direction (Z-axis direction) with respect to the surface of the lining material 325 It is inserted so that it can slide with ).

In this embodiment, on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 351, an annular recessed portion 35g centering on the shaft center is provided. The recessed portion 35g has a volume of a size capable of accommodating a predetermined amount of molten metal M2. Thereby, when the shaft portion 351 descends, it becomes possible to discharge the predetermined amount of molten metal M2 to the outside of the melting furnace 32 as schematically shown in FIG. 2B. The predetermined amount is not particularly limited, and is typically an amount smaller than the capacity of the container H, and in this embodiment, it is about 10 cc. As in the present embodiment, when the concave portion 35g is provided in an annular shape, the molten metal is easily spread over the entire concave portion 35g when receiving the molten metal from the melting furnace, and the molten metal is discharged from the concave portion 35g. Even at the time, since the molten metal is easily discharged from the entire recessed portion 35g, it becomes possible to reliably receive and discharge a predetermined amount of molten metal. In addition, the cross-sectional shape of the concave portion (35g) is preferably an arc shape (circular hole) as shown, thereby further enhancing the dischargeability of the molten metal (M2) from the concave portion (35g). I can.

In addition, the concave portion 35g installed on the outer circumferential portion of the shaft portion 351 does not necessarily have to be annularly installed on the outer circumferential surface around the shaft center, and at least one concave portion is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 351. As long as the volume that can accommodate a predetermined amount of molten metal can be determined, the shape or form is not particularly limited. For example, the concave portion 35g may be composed of a plurality of concave portions intermittently provided along the circumferential direction of the shaft portion 351, and a single partial annular sphere discontinuous in the circumferential direction. It may consist of 狀溝).

The drive source 352 is for reciprocating the shaft portion 351 along its axial direction, and is constituted by, for example, a cylinder mechanism, a ball screw mechanism, or the like. The drive source 352 has a raised position in which the concave portion 35g is located inside the melting furnace 32 as shown in FIG. 2A, and the concave portion 35g is outside the melting furnace 32 as shown in FIG. 2B. It is comprised so that it is possible to raise and lower the shaft part 351 between the located lowering positions.

Further, it is preferable that the inner wall surface of the guide member 36 is also covered with a lining material made of the same material as the lining material 325. Thereby, since the predetermined amount of molten metal M2 tapped by the tapping mechanism 35 can be stably guided to the container H, it is possible to suppress an imbalance in the amount of the molten metal reaching the container H. Further, in order to prevent cooling of the evaporation material M due to contact with the guide member 36, a heating source capable of holding the guide member 36 at a predetermined temperature or higher may be provided.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the support stand 33 is provided near the bottom part of the material supply chamber 31, and is comprised so that it can support a plurality of containers H. In this embodiment, the support stand 33 includes a disk-shaped index table that is rotatable around the rotation axis A3 in the XY plane while supporting the plurality of containers H. The support stand 33 has a built-in cooling mechanism capable of circulating a refrigerant such as coolant, and a plurality of containers H are arranged on the same circumference on the upper surface of the support stand 33 at predetermined intervals. The number of containers H that can be disposed on the support stand 33 is not particularly limited, and may be one, but is typically a plurality.

The support stand 33 sequentially supplies one arbitrary container H from the standby position P3 to the supply position P4. The standby position P3 is one or two or more positions for temporarily waiting for the container H before or after the pouring of the evaporation material M, and the evaporation material between the evaporation unit 10 Includes the location where (M) is exchanged with the container (H). The supply position P4 is a position at which a predetermined amount of molten metal M2 is supplied (poured) from the tapping mechanism 35, and in this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 1, the outlet of the guide member 36 and the Z-axis direction It is set to the opposite position.

The material supply unit 30 also has a sensor 37 and a controller 38.

The sensor 37 is disposed on the outside of a window made of a transparent plate installed on the upper part of the material supply chamber 31, and is conveyed from the evaporation unit 10 to the standby position P3. The remaining amount of M) is detected, and the detection signal is output to the controller 38. The controller 38 is based on the output of the sensor 37, the supply amount of the molten metal M1 supplied to the container H to be detected at the supply position P4 (in this embodiment, the shaft portion 351 is raised or lowered). Number of times) is determined. The type of the sensor 37 is not particularly limited, and for example, an image sensor such as a camera or a range sensor such as a laser displacement meter is used.

The controller 38 is typically constituted by a computer incorporating a CPU, a memory, or the like, and controls the operation of the material supply unit 30 and the transfer unit 40. Further, the controller 38 may be configured as a higher-level controller that controls the operation of the entire evaporation apparatus 100 including the evaporation unit 10.

(Return)

The conveyance unit 40 has a conveyance chamber 41 and a conveyance unit 42.

The transfer chamber 41 is disposed between the evaporation chamber 11 and the material supply chamber 31, and is connected to the evaporation chamber 11 and the material supply chamber 31 through gate valves V1 and V2, respectively. . The conveyance chamber 41 is connected to the 3rd vacuum exhaust system 53, and is comprised so that the inside can be exhausted or maintained in a predetermined|prescribed pressure reduction atmosphere.

The conveyance unit 42 is installed at the bottom of the conveyance chamber 41. The conveyance unit 42 includes a hand portion 421 capable of raising the flange portion Fh of the container H, and the hand portion 421 in the three-axis directions of the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis, and around the Z-axis. It has a multi-joint arm part 422 which can be conveyed to. The transfer unit 42 is constituted by, for example, a transfer robot such as a SCARA type or a professional graph type.

[Operation of the deposition device]

Next, a typical operation of the deposition apparatus 100 configured as described above will be described.

The evaporation chamber 11, the material supply chamber 31, and the transfer chamber 41 are depressurized and maintained at a predetermined pressure through the first to third vacuum exhaust systems 51 to 53. The gate valves V1 and V2 are closed, and each chamber is atmospherically shut off. Further, since the gate valves V1 and V2 are for realizing the load lock function of the transfer chamber 41, both gate valves V1 and V2 are controlled not to open at the same time, even if not described in the following description.

(Material supply process)

In the material supply unit 30, the melting furnace 32 is decompressed together with the material supply chamber 31 in a state in which the bulk evaporation material M is accommodated therein, and in the depressurized atmosphere, the evaporation material M is Dissolves. On the support stand 33, a plurality of empty containers H are set at the standby position P3 and the supply position P4 on the support stand 33, respectively. After the evaporation material M is dissolved, the molten metal M1 of the evaporation material M is supplied from the melting furnace 32 to the container H on the supply position P4 through the supply unit 34.

Specifically, by moving the shaft portion 351 of the tapping mechanism 35 from the raised position shown in Fig. 2A to the lowered position shown in Fig. 2B, the molten metal of a predetermined amount (about 10 cc) accommodated in the recessed portion 35g ( M2) is supplied to the container H through the guide member 36. The lifting operation of the shaft portion 351 is repeated until the evaporation material supplied to the container H reaches the maximum filling amount. For example, if the maximum filling amount of the evaporation material supplied to the container H is 100 cc, the lifting operation of the shaft portion 351 is repeated ten times.

After the molten metal (M1) of the evaporation material is supplied to the container (H) on the supply position (P4), the support (33) rotates by a predetermined angle, and the container (H) on the standby position (P3) is in the supply position (P4). It moves in sequence, and the above-described tapping operation of the evaporation material M1 is performed, respectively. The container H that has received the supply of the molten metal M1 at the supply position P4 moves to the standby position P3, and the molten metal M1 in the container H is cooled on the support stand 33 to solidify. Therefore, in the container H, the ingot (a lump state) of the evaporation material M is held.

Containers in which the hand part 421 of the conveying unit 42 enters the material supply chamber 31 from the conveying chamber 41, and each evaporation material M waiting at the standby position P3 on the support stand 33 accommodates It is conveyed to the evaporation chamber 11 together with (H). After that, the container H containing the evaporation material M is conveyed to the standby position P1 of the support base 13 of the evaporation chamber 11.

When the container H is conveyed to the standby position P1 of the support base 13, the container H1 is moved to the evaporation position P2 by the rotation of the support base 13. On the other hand, the transfer unit 42 returns to the material supply chamber 31, and holds the second container H containing the evaporation material M (ingot) waiting at the standby position P3 on the support 33 Then, it enters the evaporation chamber 11 again, and mounts the container H in the standby position P1 on the support base 13. Thereafter, this operation is repeated until the number of containers H capable of supporting the support 13 is reached.

(Deposition process)

In the vapor deposition chamber 11, the substrate S is held in the substrate holding portion 12 with the film-forming surface facing downward. After the container H containing the evaporation material M moves to the evaporation position P2, an electron beam E from the electron gun 14 is irradiated toward the evaporation material M in the container H. The evaporation material M irradiated with the electron beam E is re-dissolved, and vapor (evaporation particles) M3 of the evaporation material M is generated. The substrate holding portion 12 rotates at a predetermined speed around the rotation shaft A1, and the vapor M3 is deposited on the film-forming surface of the substrate S rotating together with the substrate holding portion 12. Thereby, a vapor deposition film of the evaporation material M is formed on the film formation surface of the substrate S.

The evaporation material M in the container H on the evaporation position P2 is consumed by continuation of the evaporation process. When the remaining amount of the evaporation material M becomes less than or equal to a predetermined value, it becomes difficult to perform a stable film forming process due to a fluctuation in the evaporation rate. Thus, when the remaining amount of the evaporation material M becomes less than a predetermined amount, the used evaporation material M on the evaporation position P2 and the unused evaporation material M on the standby position P1 are rotated by the rotation of the support base 13. M) is exchanged. After that, using the evaporation material M newly moved to the evaporation position P2, the film forming process of the substrate S is restarted. In addition, the exchange operation of the evaporation material M is typically performed at the time of replacement of the substrate S.

(Material resupply process)

When all of the evaporation materials M on the support 13 are used, or when the number of unused evaporation materials M is less than a predetermined value, as will be described later, each vessel H is transferred from the evaporation chamber 11 to the material supply chamber 31 ), and instead, a container for accommodating an unused new evaporation material M is carried in from the material supply chamber 31 to the evaporation chamber 11.

The conveying unit 42 conveys the used evaporation material M waiting at the standby position P1 on the support base 13 to the material supply chamber 31 together with the container H that accommodates it. The container H conveyed by the conveying unit 42 to the standby position of the support stand 33 in the material supply chamber 31 is, after the remaining amount of the evaporation material M is measured by the sensor 37, the support stand 33 ) Is moved to the supply position P4. Instead, the container H in which the evaporation material M has been supplied to the maximum filling amount in advance is moved to the standby position P3, and the container H is conveyed to the evaporation chamber 11 through the conveying unit 42. .

To the container H moved to the supply position P4, the molten metal M1 of the evaporation material M is supplied by a predetermined amount by the tapping mechanism 35 until the maximum filling amount of the container H is reached. At this time, based on the data on the remaining amount of evaporated material in the container H measured by the sensor 37, the operation of the tapping mechanism 35 (the number of lifting and lowering operations of the shaft 351) is determined.

Thereafter, the above-described operation is repeated, whereby the evaporation material M is newly filled in the container H containing the used evaporation material M. The container H in which the evaporation material M is most fully filled is, by the transfer unit 42, at a predetermined timing (at the time of replacement of the substrate S in the deposition unit 10), the evaporation chamber 11 Is returned to.

As described above, in the present embodiment, for example, the following effects can be obtained.

Since the material supply chamber 31 is configured to be held in a reduced pressure atmosphere, the evaporation material M can be conveyed to the evaporation chamber 11 without opening the evaporation chamber 11 to the atmosphere.

In addition, the evaporation material M conveyed to the evaporation chamber 11 is supplied from the melting furnace 32 to the container H in a molten state, and is an ingot solidified in the container H, and Together, they are conveyed to the evaporation chamber 11, and in that state, they are reheated in the evaporation chamber 11 and evaporated. Therefore, shape processing of the evaporation material M becomes unnecessary, and it becomes possible to stably supply the evaporation material M even in a relatively soft metal material.

Further, since the evaporation material M is conveyed in units of the container H, it becomes possible to supply the evaporation material M to the evaporation chamber 11 without changing the evaporation rate.

In addition, since the evaporation material M is melted, supplied into the container H, and conveyed to the evaporation chamber 11 in a consistent vacuum, deterioration due to oxidation of the evaporation material M or adhesion of moisture, etc. This is prevented, and it becomes possible to stably supply the evaporation material M of high quality to the evaporation chamber 11.

In the present embodiment, the support base 33 in the material supply chamber 31 includes an index table capable of sequentially moving the plurality of containers H to the supply position P4. As a result, since the evaporation material M provided in the evaporation chamber 11 can be efficiently prepared, the time required for dissemination of the evaporation material M to the evaporation chamber 11 can be shortened. have.

In the same manner, the support base 13 in the evaporation chamber 11 includes an index table capable of sequentially moving the plurality of containers H to the irradiation position of the electron beam E from the electron gun 14, It is possible to secure the evaporation material M necessary for the vapor deposition treatment, and it becomes possible to improve productivity.

In this embodiment, since the tapping mechanism 35 is configured to supply the molten metal of the evaporation material to the container H by a predetermined amount, it is possible to suppress a difference in the supply amount of the evaporation material M for each container H. I can. Therefore, it becomes possible to prevent the irregularity of the evaporation rate for each container caused by the imbalance in the amount of the evaporation material M.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the conveyance unit 42 is provided inside the conveyance chamber 41 which can maintain a vacuum atmosphere separately from the vapor deposition chamber 11 and the material supply chamber 31. For this reason, the material supply chamber 31 and the transfer chamber 41 can be blocked atmospherically, and contamination or contamination of the atmosphere in the vapor deposition chamber 11 can be prevented.

<2nd embodiment>

3 is a side cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration of a supply unit for a molten metal of an evaporation material in a material supply mechanism according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, configurations different from those of the first embodiment will be mainly described, and the same reference numerals are assigned to the same configurations as those of the above-described embodiment, and descriptions thereof will be omitted or simplified.

The supply unit 64 of this embodiment includes a tapping mechanism 65 and a guide member 66 having a tapping port 662. The tapping mechanism 65 has a shaft portion 651, a storage portion 652, and a drive source 653.

The storage unit 652 is provided at the bottom of the melting furnace 32 and is configured to store only a predetermined amount of the molten metal M1 of the evaporation material M. The storage unit 652 has through holes 652a and 652b through which the shaft portion 651 passes at the upper end and the lower end, respectively.

The shaft portion 651 is configured to liquid-tightly penetrate the bottom portion of the melting furnace 32, the guide member 66, and the storage portion 652, and slidable with respect to these in the axial direction. Like the first embodiment, the shaft portion 651 has an annular recessed portion 65g centered on the shaft center on its outer circumferential surface. The passage width z1 of the concave portion 65g along the Z-axis direction is set smaller than the height dimension z2 of the storage portion 652 along the Z-axis direction. For this reason, while the melting furnace 32 and the storage unit 652 communicate with each other through the concave portion 65g and the through hole 652a, the through hole 652b is shielded from the outer circumferential surface of the shaft portion 651 (遮蔽)do. On the other hand, while the storage portion 652 and the guide member 66 communicate with each other through the concave portion 65g and the through hole 652b, the through hole 652a is shielded from the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 651.

The drive source 653 is configured in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and is configured to be able to move up and down with respect to the bottom of the melting furnace 32, the guide member 66, and the storage unit 652. The drive source 653 is a first position for supplying the molten metal M1 from the melting furnace 32 to the storage unit 652 through the concave portion 65g, as shown by a solid line in the drawing, and a two-dot chain line ( As shown by the arc, the shaft portion 651 is moved from the storage portion 652 through the concave portion 65g to the second position where the molten metal M1 is supplied to the inside of the guide member 66. It is configured to be possible.

Also, the inner wall surfaces of the storage portion 652 and the guide member 66 are covered with a lining material for lowering the affinity with the molten metal M1, similarly to the melting furnace 32. Thereby, since the tapping mechanism 65 and the predetermined amount of molten metal M2 tapped into the container H can be stably guided, the imbalance in the amount of the molten metal reaching the container H can be suppressed. Further, in order to prevent cooling of the evaporation material M due to contact with the guide member 66, a heating source 661 capable of holding the guide member 66 at a predetermined temperature or higher is provided.

In the supply unit 64 of the present embodiment configured as described above, similarly to the first embodiment described above, the shaft portion 651 lifts and lowers the container H from the inside of the melting furnace 32 by one lifting operation. It becomes possible to stably supply a fixed amount of molten metal with high precision. Since the predetermined amount can be arbitrarily designed according to the internal volume of the storage unit 652, it becomes possible to sufficiently respond to a request for supplying a relatively large amount of molten metal to the container H at one time.

As mentioned above, although the embodiment of this invention was demonstrated, it goes without saying that this invention is not limited only to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various changes can be added.

For example, in the above embodiment, the case where the evaporation source in the evaporation unit 10 is constituted by an electron beam evaporation source is described as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be constituted by a resistance heating type or an induction heating type evaporation source. In this case, the present invention is applicable as a supply device for the evaporation material supplied to such an evaporation source.

10… Evaporation
11... Evaporation room
13... support fixture
20… Material supply mechanism
30... Material supply
31... Material supply room
32... Melting furnace
33... support fixture
34... Supply unit
35,65... Tapping device
36,66... Guide member
40… Conveyance
41... Return room
42... Conveying unit
100… Evaporation device
H… Vessel
M… Evaporation material
M1, M2... Molten metal
M3... steam

Claims (8)

A material supply room installed outside the evaporation chamber and capable of being maintained in a reduced pressure atmosphere;
A melting furnace installed in the material supply chamber to dissolve the evaporated material,
At least one container capable of receiving the molten metal of the evaporation material dissolved in the melting furnace,
A supply unit mounted on the melting furnace to supply the molten metal from the melting furnace to the container,
A conveying unit capable of conveying the ingot of the evaporation material supplied from the supply unit and solidified in the container to the evaporation chamber together with the container
And,
The supply unit,
A shaft member that liquid-tightly penetrates the bottom of the melting furnace and has at least one concave portion on an outer circumferential surface thereof, and a drive source for reciprocating the shaft member along the axial direction thereof, and a predetermined amount by reciprocating movement along the axial direction of the shaft member A tapping mechanism configured to discharge the molten metal of the melting furnace to the outside of the melting furnace,
A guide member installed at the bottom of the melting furnace to guide the predetermined amount of molten metal discharged to the outside of the melting furnace to the container
Material feeding device having.
The method of claim 1,
The container includes a plurality of containers each capable of containing the evaporation material,
The material supply device further includes a support including an index table capable of sequentially moving the plurality of containers to a supply position of the evaporation material by the supply unit.
Material feeding device.
The method of claim 1,
The tapping mechanism,
It is installed at the bottom of the melting furnace, further has a storage unit capable of storing the predetermined amount of molten metal,
The shaft member liquid-tightly penetrates the storage unit,
The driving source spans between a first position for supplying the molten metal to the storage unit from the melting furnace through the concave portion and a second position for supplying the molten metal to the guide member from the storage unit through the concave portion, The shaft member is configured to be movable
Material feeding device.
The method of claim 1,
Further comprising a transfer chamber capable of accommodating the transfer unit and maintained in a reduced pressure atmosphere
Material feeding device.
A deposition unit having a deposition chamber,
A material supply chamber installed outside the deposition chamber and capable of being maintained in a reduced pressure atmosphere;
A melting furnace installed in the material supply chamber to dissolve the evaporated material,
At least one container capable of receiving the molten metal of the evaporation material dissolved in the melting furnace,
A supply unit for supplying the molten metal from the melting furnace to the container,
A conveying unit capable of conveying the ingot of the evaporation material supplied from the supply unit and solidified in the container to the evaporation chamber together with the container
And,
The supply unit,
A shaft member that liquid-tightly penetrates the bottom of the melting furnace and has at least one concave portion on an outer circumferential surface thereof, and a drive source for reciprocating the shaft member along the axial direction thereof, and a predetermined amount by reciprocating movement along the axial direction of the shaft member A tapping mechanism configured to discharge the molten metal of the melting furnace to the outside of the melting furnace,
A guide member installed at the bottom of the melting furnace to guide the predetermined amount of molten metal discharged to the outside of the melting furnace to the container
Evaporation apparatus having a.
The method of claim 5,
The deposition unit,
A support installed in the deposition chamber to support the container,
An electron gun capable of irradiating an electron beam to the ingot housed in the container on the support
Having more
Evaporation apparatus.
The method of claim 6,
The container includes a plurality of containers each capable of containing the evaporation material,
The support includes an index table capable of sequentially moving the plurality of containers to an irradiation position of the electron beam from the electron gun.
Evaporation apparatus. delete

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