KR20150067571A - Continuous vacuum sputtering apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an apparatus to perform vacuum sputtering in a series of processes with respect to an object supported on a tray (15), comprising: a tray conveyor (20) to convey the object to a set route; a main vacuum exhaust chamber (30) to process the conveyed object in accordance with processes in an area divided on a turntable (35); and an arm robot (40) installed on a set location of the turntable (35) to perform loading of the object and unloading thereof. Therefore, by including a plurality of chambers capable of revolving in the main vacuum exhaust chamber, an etching, a metal reflection film and a protective film can be coated rapidly and conveniently in order without bringing up the object, and, further, fraction defects are remarkably reduced by preventing all sorts of pollutants, and each injection molding machine is disposed in the right and the left of the main vacuum exhaust chamber to supply an injection molding foam of a vehicle lamp molded from two injection molding machines to a tray supply and discharge chamber by the tray conveyor, by which the injection molding foam has a short atmospheric exposure time to reduce the defect rate of the quality of the aluminum reflection film coating and protective film coating film which may be generated from atmospheric pollution sources (water and foreign substance and the like).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a continuous vacuum sputtering apparatus which realizes an injection molding of an automobile lamp and an unattended process of a vacuum deposition,

[0001] The present invention relates to a continuous vacuum sputtering apparatus that realizes injection molding of an automobile lamp and an unattended vacuum deposition process. More specifically, the present invention includes a plurality of chambers rotatable in a main vacuum exhaust chamber, Reflection film and protective film can be coated very quickly and easily, and various kinds of contamination can be prevented, so that the defect rate can be remarkably reduced. Further, each injection molding machine is disposed on the left and right of the main vacuum exhaust chamber, Since the molded product is supplied to the tray supply and take-out chamber by the tray conveyor, the time during which the injection molded article is exposed to the air is shortened, and the aluminum reflection film coating and the quality of the protective film coating film, which can be generated from contaminants (moisture, foreign substances, etc.) Decreasing Injection Molding of Automotive Lamps and Vacuum Deposition To a continuous vacuum sputtering apparatus realizing an unmanned process.

Generally, plastic injection molded parts such as reflectors of lamps undergo a protective film coating process to improve the reflectance and resistance to water. In the case of mass-produced products such as automobile lamps, a vacuum sputtering method is useful in consideration of both quality and productivity. In this connection, reference can be made to the prior patents of Korean Patent Registration No. 0671474 and Korean Patent Registration No. 0656181, for example.

According to the former patent of the present applicant, three processes such as a surface modification of a plastic lamp, an aluminum reflection film coating and a protective film coating are sequentially and continuously performed in one vacuum chamber based on sputtering and vacuum plasma CVD technology It is expected to reduce costs due to process reduction and improve quality and prevent environmental pollution.

However, this causes the problem that the rejection rate of the product increases due to the contamination due to the mixing of different materials, since the plurality of materials are accommodated in one chamber and injected onto the reflector, which is a resin molded product.

In the latter patent, the crucible exchanging apparatus includes a crucible heating apparatus having an organic material deposition chamber, a crucible exchange chamber, a vacuum robot, and an organic material deposition chamber, the organic material deposition chamber having two crucibles, And the crucibles containing the organic substances are continuously supplied to the deposition chamber by using the robot for vacuum. Accordingly, when the organic EL device is mass-produced, the effect of continuous deposition for a long time is expected.

However, since it is necessary to supply the crucible to the deposition chamber simply by using the robot, it is difficult to secure the quality and productivity for the resin molded article deposited with the sputtering material.

1. Korean Patent Registration No. 0671474 entitled " Automatic Coating Device for Reflective Film and Protective Film of Automobile Lamp " (Published on November 2, 2006) 2. Korean Patent Publication No. 0656181 entitled " Continuous Deposition System of Organic EL Device " (Published on Feb. 14, 2006)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned problems of the prior art by providing a plurality of chambers rotatable in a main vacuum exhaust chamber so that etching, a metal reflection film, and a protection film can be sequentially and rapidly coated without removing an object, A continuous vacuum sputtering apparatus realizing an injection molding of an automobile lamp and a vacuum evaporation unmanned process which prevent various pollution and significantly reduce the defective rate.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an apparatus for performing vacuum sputtering in a series of processes on an object supported on a tray, the apparatus comprising: a tray conveyor for conveying the object to a set path; A main vacuum exhaust chamber for processing the transferred object on a turntable divided area by process; And an arm robot installed at a predetermined position of the turntable to perform loading and unloading of the object.

According to the present invention, the tray conveyor includes a lower conveyor for conveying an object discharged from an injection molding machine, and an upper conveyor for supplying an object to the position of the arm robot.

According to the present invention, the main vacuum evacuation chamber includes a tray supplying / discharging chamber for loading / unloading an object, a pretreatment chamber for modifying the surface of the object, a reflective film deposition chamber for performing vacuum sputtering on the object, And sequentially moves to an area of the protective film coating chamber to be coated.

In addition, according to the present invention, the arm robot includes a clamping unit for gripping a tray in which an object is placed, a second lift unit for moving up and down the gripped tray, and a rotation unit for transferring the gripped tray.

It should be understood, however, that the terminology or words of the present specification and claims should not be construed in an ordinary sense or in a dictionary, and that the inventors shall not be limited to the concept of a term It should be construed in accordance with the meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that it can be properly defined. Therefore, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are merely the most preferred embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the technical ideas of the present invention are described. Therefore, It is to be understood that equivalents and modifications are possible.

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of chambers rotatable in the main vacuum exhaust chamber are provided, so that it is possible to coat the etching, the metal reflection film, and the protection film sequentially, very quickly and easily without removing the object, And the respective injection molding machines are disposed on the left and right sides of the main vacuum exhaust chamber so that the injection molded articles of the automobile lamp molded from the two injection molding machines are supplied to the tray supply and take-out chambers by the tray transfer machine, (Moisture, alien substances, etc.), thereby reducing the defects in the quality of the aluminum reflective film coating and the protective film coating film.

1 is a perspective view showing a main part of an apparatus according to the present invention,
Figure 2 is a side view showing the main part of the device according to the invention,
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a part of FIG. 1,
Fig. 4 is a configuration diagram showing the plan view of Fig. 3; Fig.

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

2 is a side view showing a main part of the apparatus according to the present invention, Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a part of Fig. 1 removed, Fig. 4 is a cross- Fig.

The present invention proposes an apparatus for performing vacuum sputtering in a series of processes on an object supported on a tray (15). Objects include, but are not necessarily limited to, plastic injection molded articles such as reflectors of automotive lamps. Since the object is clamped in the tray 15 and is subjected to a series of processes in the main vacuum exhaust chamber 30 to be described later, the airflow is saved.

According to the present invention, a tray conveyor 20 conveys the object to a set path. When the object is an injection-molded article, the injection molding machine 17 or 18 sets a path for moving between the processes of the main vacuum exhaust chamber 30. Of course, the tray conveyor 20 also includes an operation of loading and clamping an object on the tray 15. [

According to the detailed construction of the present invention, the conveyor 20 includes a lower conveyor 21 for conveying an object discharged from the injection molding machine 17 (18), an upper conveyor 21 for supplying an object to the position of the arm robot 40 (22). The lower conveyor 21 and the upper conveyor 22 are arranged in a " C "shape so as to be accessible to the entire process of the main vacuum exhaust chamber 30 described later. If the lower layer conveyor 21 and the upper layer conveyor 22 are formed in a multi-layer structure, they are advantageous in space utilization. The lower layer conveyor 21 starts from the injection molding machine 17 (18) and feeds the tray 15 to the final point. The upper layer conveyor 22 transports the tray 15 to the position of the arm robot 40, which will be described later, at the final point of the lower layer conveyor 21. Of course, the operation of vertically moving the tray 15 to the starting point of the upper layer conveyor 22 at the final point of the lower layer conveyor 21 can be performed by a robot (not shown).

3, the first elevating portion 24 performs the movement of the tray 15 from the lower conveyor 21 to the upper conveyor 22, and the discharging portion 26 performs the movement of the tray 15 at the final point of the upper conveyor 22 And performs subsequent process movement of the object.

According to the present invention, the main vacuum exhaust chamber 30 processes the transported object in the divided region on the turntable 35 on a process-by-process basis. The main vacuum exhaust chamber 30, which is divided into a plurality of processes, is rotated by the turntable 35 so as to pass through the arm robot 40 step by step.

According to the detailed configuration of the present invention, the main vacuum evacuation chamber 30 includes a tray supply / extraction chamber 31 for loading / unloading an object, a pretreatment chamber 32 for modifying the surface of the object, vacuum sputtering The reflective film deposition chamber 33 to be performed, and the protective film coating chamber 34 to coat the protective film on the object. The pretreatment chamber 32 induces surface modification by activating the surface of the automobile lamp by exposing it to a low pressure plasma. The reflective film deposition chamber 33 receives an Ar gas and coats a magnetron sputter cathode with an aluminum reflective film having a thickness set by sputtering due to high output and high voltage application. The protective film coating chamber 34 is formed by coating a protective film on the reflective film surface by a plasma CVD deposition method due to mixing of Ar gas and hexamethyldisiloxane gas and application of ultrahigh pressure by MF power for plasma generation, And the waterproof film is treated by the self-discharge of plasma C Vydy.

At this time, the pumping unit 11, the cryogenic cooling unit 13, and the like required for the vacuum sputtering are disposed around the pretreatment chamber 32, the reflective film deposition chamber 33, and the protective film coating chamber 34 of the turntable 35 . The pumping unit 11 includes a high vacuum oil pump as a vacuum pump for high vacuum exhaust, a mechanical boost pump for evacuating vacuum at a high speed in a medium vacuum region, and a rotary oil pump for evacuation from atmospheric pressure to a medium vacuum. The cryogenic cooling unit 13 includes an ultra-low temperature refrigerator for rapidly adsorbing gas and moisture to increase the vacuum exhaust speed, a cooler for suppressing arc generation in the chamber, and the like.

On the other hand, the tray supply / extraction chamber 31, the pretreatment chamber 32, the reflective film deposition chamber 33, and the protective film coating chamber 34 described above are merely illustrative, and the vacuum sputtering of various objects is considered. It may be subdivided.

According to the present invention, the arm robot 40 is installed at a predetermined position of the turntable 35 to perform loading and unloading of the object. The arm robot 40 loads the object in the main vacuum evacuation chamber 30 from the upper conveyor 22 and unloads the object from the main vacuum evacuation chamber 30 to the evacuation unit 26 after the operation.

The arm robot 40 includes a clamping portion 42 for gripping the tray 15 with the object placed thereon, a second elevating portion 44 for moving up and down the gripped tray 15, And a rotation part 46 for transferring the gripped tray 15. The arm robot 40 is structured such that the arms are horizontally connected to each other with respect to the column, and performs loading / unloading through 180 占 of the arm. The clamping portion 42 is installed in a structure that grips two or four places of the tray 15. The second lift portion 44 is installed at an intermediate portion of the column to perform vertical movement of the arm. The rotary part 46 is installed at the upper end of the column to perform rotational movement of the arm.

In operation, when the tray 15 on which the object is mounted reaches the arm robot 40 through the upper layer conveyor 22, the arm of the arm robot 40 descends to grasp the tray 15, The tray is loaded into the waiting chamber in the tray supply / take-out chamber 31, and then the turntable 35 is rotated by 90 degrees to perform the pretreatment process in the pretreatment chamber 32. After the pre-processing is completed, the turntable 35 is rotated 90 degrees to perform deposition in the reflective film deposition chamber 33, and the turntable 35 is rotated 90 degrees to perform post-processing in the protective film coating chamber 34 . The object which has reached the tray supply / take-out chamber 31 in the protective film coating chamber 34 is unloaded by the arm robot 40 and discharged onto the discharge portion 26 of the upper layer conveyor 22. A tray supply / extraction chamber 31, a pretreatment chamber 32, and a reflective film deposition chamber 33, which are small-capacity chambers for performing four processes on the main vacuum evacuation chamber 30 formed in one large capacity, , And a protective film coating chamber (34).

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of chambers rotatable in the main vacuum evacuation chamber are provided, so that it is possible to coat the etching, the metal reflective film, and the protective film sequentially, very quickly and easily without removing the object, The respective injection molding machines are disposed on the left and right sides of the vacuum exhaust chamber so that the injection molded articles of the automobile lamp molded from the two injection molding machines are supplied to the tray supply and take-out chambers by the tray transfer machine, (Moisture, alien substances, etc.) in the aluminum film and the defective quality of the protective film coating film.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It is therefore intended that such variations and modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.

10: Frame 11: Pumping unit
13: Cryogenic cooling unit 15: tray
17, 18: Injection molding machine 20: Tray conveyor
21: lower conveyor 22: upper conveyor
24: first elevating part 26: discharging part
30: main vacuum exhaust chamber 31: tray supply and extraction chamber
32: preprocessing chamber 33: reflective film deposition chamber
34: Shielding coating chamber 35: Turntable
40: arm robot 42: clamping part
44: second elevating part 46: rotating part

Claims (4)

An apparatus for performing vacuum sputtering in a series of processes on an object supported on a tray (15), the apparatus comprising:
A tray conveyor (20) for conveying the object to a set path;
A main vacuum evacuation chamber 30 for processing the transferred object on a process-by-process basis in divided areas on the turntable 35; And
And an arm robot (40) installed at a predetermined position of the turntable (35) to perform loading and unloading of the object. Vacuum sputtering apparatus. The method according to claim 1,
The tray conveyor 20 includes a lower conveyor 21 for conveying an object discharged from the injection molding machine 17 and an upper conveyor 22 for conveying an object to the position of the arm robot 40 Wherein the injection molding of the automobile lamp and the unmanned process of the vacuum deposition are realized by the continuous vacuum sputtering apparatus. The method according to claim 1,
The main vacuum evacuation chamber 30 includes a tray supply / extraction chamber 31 for loading / unloading an object, a pretreatment chamber 32 for modifying the surface of the object, a reflective film deposition chamber 33 for performing vacuum sputtering on the object ), And sequentially moves to an area of a protective film coating chamber (34) coating a protective film on the object. The continuous vacuum sputtering apparatus realizes an injection molding of an automobile lamp and an unmanned process of a vacuum deposition. The method according to claim 1,
The arm robot 40 includes a clamping portion 42 for gripping the tray 15 with the object placed thereon, a second elevating portion 44 for moving the gripped tray 15 up and down, a gripped tray 15, And a rotary part (46) for transferring the vacuumed sputtering gas into the vacuum chamber. The continuous vacuum sputtering apparatus realizes the injection molding of an automobile lamp and the unattended process of vacuum deposition.

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