KR20030016549A - Cooling apparatus for sputtering machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A cooling apparatus for sputtering machine which is capable of improving cooling efficiency and reliability by simple structure thereof is provided. CONSTITUTION: In a sputtering machine(10) comprising chamber bodies(14,16) for forming a chamber for coating a thin film, the cooling apparatus for the sputtering machine(10) comprises a gutter(40) comprising an opening end part which is adhered to the wall surface of the chamber bodies, and one surface of which is opened to form a cooling water passageway directly contacted with the chamber bodies; a cooling water introduction pipe(50) that is connected to the cooling water passageway through one end of the gutter; and a cooling water discharge pipe(52) that is connected to the cooling water passageway through the other end of the gutter, wherein cross section of the gutter is formed in a shape that is gradually expanded toward the opening end part to increase heat conduction area of the chamber bodies(14,16) and cooling water passageway, the gutter(40) is divided into bar type gutters that are connected to each other, and the cooling water passageway is further formed adjacently along the circumference of a seal that is installed to maintain air tightness of the chamber.

Description

Cooling device of sputtering machine {COOLING APPARATUS FOR SPUTTERING MACHINE}

The present invention relates to a sputtering machine (sputtering machine), and more particularly to a cooling device of the sputtering machine that can improve the cooling efficiency and reliability by a simple structure.

As is well known, the sputtering technology using plasma is applied to the coating of thin films in the manufacturing fields such as semiconductors, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs) and projection TVs. It is commonly used.

Meanwhile, in manufacturing fields such as LCD and PDP, the temperature of the chamber is increased to uniformly coat the silica (SiO ₂ ) film or the indium tin oxide (ITO) film on the surface of the glass substrate in the chamber of the sputtering machine. It is kept at high temperature by a heater. At this time, as the temperature of the chamber body constituting the chamber of the sputtering machine inevitably increases, it causes many difficulties in the operation of the sputtering machine such as component failure and shortening of the life, so that the chamber body of the sputtering machine needs to be cooled appropriately. have.

In a conventional sputtering machine, an example of a cooling device is described. A cooling pipe having a circular cross section is formed in a zigzag shape or a coil shape on a wall surface of a chamber body and attached by welding. The chamber body in contact with the cooling tube is cooled by introducing the cooling water through one end of the cooling tube and discharging the cooling water through the other end by driving the cooling water pump.

However, in the conventional sputtering machine cooling apparatus, not only the heat conduction area is reduced because the cooling tube is in line contact with the chamber body, but also the heat conductivity is lowered due to the loss due to the thickness of the cooling tube itself, which causes a problem of greatly lowering the cooling efficiency. . In addition, since the cooling tube should be manufactured so that interference with components such as a vacuum pump installed on the wall of the chamber body is avoided, the overall shape of the cooling tube is considerably complicated and the design freedom is accompanied.

On the other hand, the chamber of the sputtering machine is configured to be opened and closed by a door, and has a flexible seal between the chamber body and the door to maintain the airtightness of the chamber. In addition, the yarn is also interposed between adjacent sputtering machines when the chambers of the sputtering machine are continuously arranged in order to continuously coat the silica film and the ITO film on the surface of the glass substrate, for example. When the seal is heat-cured, it is very vulnerable to breakage, which makes it difficult to use for a long time. In particular, breakage of the seal has a fatal problem causing vacuum breakdown of the chamber. However, there is a situation in which the yarn is periodically replaced because a method for preventing thermal curing of the yarn is not provided, and there is a problem in that the productivity decrease due to the suspension of the operation of the sputtering machine for exchanging the yarn must be taken as it is.

The present invention has been made to solve the various problems of the prior art as described above, an object of the present invention is to increase the heat conduction area and to form a cooling water passage of the structure in which the cooling water is in direct contact with the chamber body to greatly increase the cooling efficiency It is to provide a cooling device of the sputtering machine that can be improved.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a cooling apparatus of a sputtering machine, which can freely arrange a cooling water passage regardless of the arrangement of components, thereby improving design freedom.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a cooling device for a sputtering machine, which can effectively prevent thermal curing by cooling a seal, thereby extending its life and improving operability and reliability.

A feature of the present invention for achieving the above object is a sputtering machine having a chamber body for forming a chamber for coating a thin film, the cooling water passage is fixed to the wall surface of the chamber body and directly in contact with the chamber body A through hole having an open end with one side open; A coolant introduction pipe communicating with the coolant passage through one end of the trough; A sputtering machine cooling apparatus comprising a cooling water discharge pipe communicating with the cooling water passage through the other end of the trough.

Moreover, the gutter | pipe is divided and comprised by the rod shape which can be mutually connected, and it is what is further formed so that a cooling water channel | path may approach along the periphery of the chamber provided in order to maintain airtightness of a chamber.

1 is a front view showing a trough of the sputtering machine according to the present invention,

2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II of FIG. 1;

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1;

4 is a cross-sectional view showing a modification of the trough in a view similar to FIG. 3;

5A and 5B are front views showing various modifications of the trough according to the present invention;

Figure 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a cooling device of the seal between the chamber body in the sputtering machine according to the present invention,

7 is a cross-sectional view partially showing a gate plate in the sputtering machine according to the present invention;

8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 7;

9 is a front view showing a gate plate of the sputtering machine according to the present invention.

♣ Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawing ♣

10: sputtering machine 12: chamber

14, 16: Chamber Body 18: Thread

30, 32, 66: cooling water passage 40: gutter

42: open end 60: gate plate

62: doorway 64: channel

70: thread

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the cooling apparatus of the sputtering machine according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 6, the chamber 12 of the sputtering machine 10 is constituted by chamber bodies 14 and 16 separated from side to side, and between chamber bodies 14 and 16 is a chamber ( There is a seal 18 to maintain the confidentiality of 12). Although the seal 18 was shown to be attached to the wall surface of the one side chamber body 16, it can also be attached to the wall surface of the other chamber body 14. As shown in FIG. The seal 18 is made of a flexible material such as silicon, rubber, synthetic resin, or the like.

In addition, a vacuum pump 20 is provided on the outer surface of each of the chamber bodies 14 and 16 to exhaust the air of the chamber 12 to create a vacuum, and the chamber 12 has an electrode having a well-known target. Parts for coating a thin film such as a silica film or an ITO film, such as an Electrode Unit and a Heater Unit, are installed.

1 to 3, the coolant passage 30 is cooperated with the wall surfaces of the chamber bodies 14 and 16 on the wall surfaces of the chamber bodies 14 and 16 surrounding the chambers 12 of the sputtering machine 10. The trough 40 to be formed is fixed, and the trough 40 is formed in a "-" shape with an open end 42 having one side open. The open end 42 of the trough 40 is in close contact with the wall surfaces of the chamber bodies 14 and 16 by the welding portion 44. Thus, the coolant between the chamber bodies 14 and 16 and the trough 40 Cooling water flowing through the passage 30 directly contacts the chamber bodies 14 and 16 to cool the chamber bodies 14 and 16.

Moreover, the trough 40 is divided and comprised in the bar shape, The trough 40 divided and comprised is connected by welding, and is attached in a zigzag form over the whole wall surface of the chamber bodies 14 and 16. As shown in FIG. Therefore, the front surface of the chamber bodies 14 and 16 can be uniformly cooled by the cooling water which flows along the cooling water passage 30 formed between the trough 40 and the wall surfaces of the chamber bodies 14 and 16. FIG.

2 and 3, the cross section of the trough 40 is configured to gradually expand toward the open end 42 so as to increase the heat conduction area with the chamber bodies 14 and 16. Both ends of the trough 40 are closed by the closed ends 46a and 46b. The coolant inlet pipe 50 for introducing the coolant at a position close to the one end of the closed end 46a communicates with the coolant passage 30, and discharges the coolant at a position close to the closed end 46b of the other end. Cooling water discharge pipe 52 for communication with the cooling water passage (30). In addition, the coolant introduction pipe 50 and the coolant discharge pipe 52 are connected to a well-known coolant pump for introducing and discharging the coolant. In the drawings, the coolant introduction pipe 50 and the coolant discharge pipe 52 are shown to be in close proximity to each other to facilitate piping with the coolant pump, but this is merely an example, and the pipe positions of the coolant introduction pipe 50 and the coolant discharge pipe 52 are illustrated. Can be changed as needed.

As shown in FIG. 4, a flange 48 is formed along the longitudinal direction at the open end 42 of the trough 40 so as to be in close contact with the wall surfaces of the chamber bodies 14 and 16. And the welding part 44 of the chamber bodies 14 and 16 and the trough 40 is formed along the edge of the flange 48. As shown in FIG. In this way, after the flange 48 of the trough 40 is brought into close contact with the wall surfaces of the chamber bodies 14 and 16, the welding work performed along the edge of the flange 48 is performed to open the open end 42 of the trough 40. Compared with the welding operation performed according to the workability is improved and there is an advantage that can ensure the airtightness of the weld 44.

As shown in FIG. 6, a cooling water passage 32 is formed inside the chamber body 16 so as to be close to the seal 18, and the cooling water introduction pipe 34 for introducing the cooling water is provided in the cooling water passage 32. ) And a coolant discharge pipe 36 for discharging the coolant are communicated with each other. The coolant flowing through the coolant passage 32 of the chamber body 16 cools the seal 18 to prevent thermal curing.

7 to 9, gate plates 60 having vertical entrances and exits 62 communicating with the chambers 12 are mounted on both side walls of the chamber body 14. On the outer surface of the gate plate 60, a channel 64 is formed along the edge of the entrance and exit 62 to form a closed curve. In the channel 64 of the gate plate 60, a seal 70 for holding the airtightness is fixedly mounted.

When the chamber 12 of the sputtering machine 10 of the present invention is continuously connected by the gate plate 60 and the seal 70 as described above, the seal 70 is adjacent to the sputtering system. In close contact with the gate plate 60 of the machine 10 to maintain the airtight between the sputtering machine 10. Therefore, the sputtering machine 10 of the present invention can implement an optimal inline sputtering system for the continuous coating of the silica film and the ITO film on the surface of the glass substrate, for example.

As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the cooling water passage 66 is annularly formed in the gate plate 60 so as to be close to the seal 70, and the cooling water passage 66 introduces the cooling water for introduction of the cooling water. The pipe 72 and the cooling water discharge pipe 74 for discharging the cooling water are in communication with each other. The coolant flowing through the coolant passage 66 of the gate plate 60 cools the seal 70 to prevent thermal curing.

In the cooling apparatus of the sputtering machine of this invention which has such a structure, as shown in FIGS. 1-3, the cooling water channel | path 30 formed between the wall surface of the chamber bodies 14 and 16 and the trough 40 is shown. By cooling the cooling water flowing through the direct contact with the chamber bodies 14 and 16 to cool the chamber bodies 14 and 16, the cooling efficiency of the chamber bodies 14 and 16 can be greatly increased.

1, 5A, and 5B, the vacuum pump 20 provided in the chamber bodies 14 and 16 of the sputtering machine 10 by the connection of the trough 40 divided and comprised is shown. Since the cooling water passage 30 can be freely bypassed so as to avoid interference with components such as a), the design freedom of the sputtering machine 10 can be improved.

6 and 7, by means of a seal 18 and a sputtering machine 10 provided to maintain the airtightness of the chamber 12 between the chamber bodies 14, 16 of the sputtering machine 10. Since each of the chambers 70 of the gate plate 60 provided for the construction of the inline sputtering system can be cooled by the cooling water flowing through the cooling water passages 32 and 66, the chambers 18 and 70 by the heat of the heater unit. In addition to prolonging the life by preventing the thermal curing, it is possible to prevent vacuum breakage of the chamber 12 due to breakage of the seals 18 and 70, thereby improving operability and reliability. Thus, the inline sputtering system can be optimally implemented.

The above embodiments are merely illustrative of preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments, and various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Modifications, variations, or substitutions may be made, and such embodiments are to be understood as being within the scope of the present invention.

As described above, according to the cooling apparatus of the sputtering machine according to the present invention, by fixing the trough on the wall surface of the chamber body, the heat conduction area is increased, and the cooling water passage of the structure in which the cooling water directly contacts the chamber body is configured to greatly increase the cooling efficiency. It is possible to improve the design flexibility by freely arranging the trough divided and configured without regard to the arrangement of the components. In addition, the cooling of the seal can effectively prevent thermal curing, thereby extending the life and improving the operability and reliability.

Claims (4)

A sputtering machine having a chamber body for forming a chamber for coating a thin film, A groove passage fixed to a wall surface of the chamber body and having an open end portion open at one side thereof so as to form a cooling water passage in direct contact with the chamber body; A cooling water introduction pipe communicating with the cooling water passage through one end of the trough; And a cooling water discharge pipe communicating with the cooling water passage through the other end of the trough. The sputtering machine cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cross section of the trough has a shape that gradually extends toward the open end so as to increase the heat conduction area of the chamber body and the cooling water passage. The sputtering machine cooling apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the troughs are divided and configured into rods that can be connected to each other. The sputtering machine cooling apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a coolant passage close to the periphery of the seal provided for maintaining the airtightness of the chamber.