KR20020086123A - Metal Coating Equipment by Cold Discharge Source - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A coating equipment for strongly and certainly adhering arbitrary varieties of metals to a substrate by forming stable plasma is provided. CONSTITUTION: The metal coating equipment comprises a substrate feeding unit(1) for feeding a substrate to be coated to a system; a tension regulation unit(2) for regulating tension of the substrate so that the substrate is uniformly coated; a pre-vacuum chamber(3) for regulating degree of vacuum for coating; a vacuum chamber(4) for sputtering a metal target using an inert gas in a high vacuum condition so that the substrate is coated; a pre-vacuum chamber(5) for regulating degree of vacuum after coating; and cooling units(6,7) and a winder(8), wherein the vacuum chamber(4) comprises a metal target, a power supply for supplying a power source, the cathode and anode (or anode in the ground state) for impressing voltage to the power supply, a gas supplier for supplying inert gas, and a fixing unit for fixing the substrate, the power supply is a D.C. power supply or high frequency power supply, and the cathode comprises a cooling means.

Description

Metal Coating Equipment Using Cold Cathode Tubes {Metal Coating Equipment by Cold Discharge Source}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coating apparatus for coating metal on various substrates such as fibers, and more particularly, to a coating apparatus for coating metal on various textile substrates such as raw fibers, yarns, fabrics, and final textile products. .

Conventionally, as a method for adhering a metal to a fiber or the like, a process of adhering the metal by a vacuum deposition method or an electroless plating method has been performed.

As a vacuum vapor deposition method, for example, after thinly attaching aluminum to the yarn in the twisted state by vacuum vapor deposition, there existed some fabrics, such as a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, and a nonwoven fabric, from the director. However, the aluminum attached in this way has a weak adhesive force to the fiber, so that all of them fall off during weaving, and there is a drawback of peeling off when the fabric is strongly rubbed, and thus it is difficult to be practically used. In addition, when such a cloth is normally washed (wet), aluminum almost comes off in only one washing, so that washing cannot be substantially performed. In addition, in the vacuum deposition method, the deposited metal is generally limited to a metal having a low melting point and easy to vaporize, so that there is a problem that a metal having excellent corrosion resistance such as stainless steel and tungsten cannot be deposited.

On the other hand, the electroplating method was one in which a dyed fabric was immersed in an electroless plating solution, and then metal was plated on the fabric through various other processes. In this method, there is a concern that the plating waste causes pollution problems, and there is a drawback that wastewater treatment requires an inexpensive cost. Moreover, since it is wet, it may require drying and other means, and there exist also a fault which deteriorates foam | bubble. Moreover, metals such as copper, nickel, chromium, and cobalt can be plated relatively easily, whereas alloys of metals, metals that are difficult to make a solution, or metals in an unstable solution state cannot be plated or the plating layer tends to be thick. There was also a problem that adhesion between the fiber and the metal was not sufficiently obtained.

Recently, in order to solve such a problem, a coating method by sputtering has been performed, but there has been a problem in that stable plasma cannot be obtained continuously.

The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the conventional coating method as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a coating apparatus capable of strongly and reliably attaching any various metals to a substrate by forming a stable plasma. .

1 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a coating apparatus of the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a vacuum chamber of the apparatus of the present invention.

3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing another example of the vacuum chamber of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

1: Substrate supply device 2: Tension control device

3,5: preliminary vacuum chamber 4: vacuum chamber

6,7 cooling device 8: winding device

432: metal target 433: gas supply device

434: description

The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, as shown in Figure 1, the substrate supply device (1) for supplying the substrate to be coated to the system, by adjusting the tension of the substrate so that the coating can be made uniform The tension adjusting device (2), the preliminary vacuum chamber (3) for adjusting the degree of vacuum for coating, the vacuum chamber (4) for sputtering a metal target with an inert gas at high vacuum to coat the substrate, the preliminary for adjusting the vacuum degree after coating It consists of a vacuum chamber 5, cooling devices 6 and 7, and a winding device.

The substrate is supplied from the feeder 1 to the system by being tensioned by the tensioner 2. The tension control device 2 pulls the substrate taut to adjust the coating to be precise and uniform coating. The tension-controlled substrate in the tension regulator 2 primarily enters the preliminary vacuum chamber 3. The preliminary vacuum chamber 3 is a device that lowers the pressure primarily because it is difficult to lower the pressure at a high vacuum in the vacuum chamber 4 at once. The pressure is first lowered in the preliminary vacuum chamber, and the coating is performed by metal sputtering on the substrate transferred to the vacuum chamber 4 in the high vacuum state. The vacuum chamber 4 is provided with a plurality of coating sets 43, 44, 45, 46 and 47, and is equipped with fixing devices 41 and 42 for fixing the substrate at the inlet and the outlet of the apparatus. Since the coated substrate cannot rapidly raise the pressure after coating, it is cooled in two cooling apparatuses 6 and 7 through a preliminary vacuum chamber 5 to control the pressure again and then wound onto a winding apparatus.

The vacuum chamber 4 may vary depending on the power supply method, a representative example of which is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

2 is an example of a device using a direct current power source.

Reference numerals 41 and 42 in the drawing denote devices for fixing the substrate supplied to the vacuum chamber. The gas is supplied from the gas supply device 433 to which the gas is supplied from the outside by the gas pipe 4331 to the metal target 432. When the gas is supplied from the gas supply 433, for example, by using a Roots blower pump to maintain the degree of vacuum required for the vacuum chamber. The supply end is formed in the form of a shower head having a plurality of holes. The gas may be any inert gas or mixture thereof, such as argon, helium, or a mixture thereof. The amount of gas supplied is tens of liters / minute or more. For example, the cathode 431 is cooled by the coolant flowing into the coolant supply unit 4311, circulating through the cathode 431, and discharged into the coolant discharge pipe 4312. This makes it possible to control the coating dimensions by supplying a stable plasma. The cooling water supply pipe is made of an insulator such as glass tube or plastic for insulation. The negative electrode 431 is subjected to a DC voltage of -1 KV or less, preferably -500-600 V by the DC power supply 48. And the base material 434 is set in the anode or the ground-side anode 435 side. The target 432 and the gas supply 433 are, for example, spaced about 1-2 cm apart and there is, for example, a distance of about 3-10 cm between the target 432 and the substrate 4344.

The vacuum chamber 4 is evacuated to a vacuum of less than 2 Torr by a vacuum exhaust device (not shown), and a voltage is applied to the cathode 431 in the inert gas atmosphere of several millitorr, and then released from the surface of the target 432. Metal molecules adhere to the opposite surface of the substrate 434. The thickness of the attached metal molecules is, for example, several tens to tens of thousands. The coating strength is determined by the potential difference between the cathode and the anode.

3 shows an example of a device using a high frequency power source. Except for supplying power using the high frequency power supply 49, the same as the device of Figure 2, the overlapping device is omitted. When sputtering using a high frequency power source of several MHz to several hundred MHz, the pressure in the chamber is preferably adjusted to 10 millitorr or less.

As the substrate used in the coating apparatus of the present invention, any substrate capable of metal coating such as plastic or fiber is applicable. The fiber base includes all raw fibers such as various synthetic or natural fibers such as polyester, polyacryl, polyamide, rayon, cotton, wool, special fibers such as other glass fibers or carbon fibers, or a combination thereof. . In addition, false yarns made of these fibers, fabrics made from these yarns, knitted fabrics, fabrics made of nonwoven fabrics, fabrics imparted with high quality with brushed hair, woolen hair, etc. Enter the target.

The metal target coated on the substrate includes all sputterable metals and alloys. Particularly, as the single metal, gold, silver, copper, tin and the like are suitable. These metals can be selected according to the use, color tone, cost, and the like.

As described above, the device of the present invention is capable of uniform and precise coating by adjusting the tension of the substrate using a tension control device. It is also possible to supply stable plasma using a device for cooling the cathode to really control the coating dimensions. In addition, the process of the present invention can be continuously carried out to improve the productivity.

Claims (4)

Substrate supply device (1) for supplying the substrate to be coated to the system, tension control device (2) to adjust the tension of the substrate to achieve a uniform coating, preliminary vacuum chamber (3) for adjusting the degree of vacuum for coating , A metal coating consisting of a vacuum chamber (4) for sputtering a metal target with an inert gas in a high vacuum state to coat the substrate, a preliminary vacuum chamber (5) for adjusting the degree of vacuum after coating, a cooling device (6, 7), and a winding device. Device. The vacuum chamber of claim 1, wherein the vacuum chamber supplies a metal target, a power supply for supplying power, a cathode and an anode (or an anode in a ground state) for applying a voltage by the power supply, and an inert gas. A metal coating device comprising a gas supply device and a fixing device for fixing a substrate. The metal coating apparatus of claim 2, wherein the power supply device is a direct current power supply device or a high frequency power supply device. 4. A metal coating apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the cathode comprises cooling means.