KR20170138104A - Inline sputtering apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An inline sputtering apparatus is disclosed. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the inline sputtering apparatus comprises: a chamber having an entrance and an exit through which a substrate enters, and performing a deposition process with respect to the substrate; a substrate moving unit arranged in the chamber, and moving the substrate; and a sputtering shield arranged to be adjacent to the substrate moving unit, preventing a deposition material from being accumulated in the substrate moving unit, and having a moving shield plate capable of entering the entrance and the exit of the chamber through the substrate moving unit.

Description

Inline sputtering apparatus < RTI ID = 0.0 >

The present invention relates to an inline sputtering apparatus, and more particularly, it is possible to easily replace or maintain a shield plate of a sputtering shield without performing vacuum venting or pumping of the chamber, To an in-line sputtering apparatus capable of preventing the operating rate from being lowered.

Plasma displays such as LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), PDP (Plasma Display Panel) and OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes), solar light, and semiconductor substrates can be fabricated by various processes such as thin film deposition and etching It is released as a product.

Among various processes, the thin film deposition process is largely divided into two according to the important principle of the deposition.

One is Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), and the other is Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), which is widely used in accordance with current process characteristics.

The chemical vapor deposition is a method of plasma-forming by an external high-frequency power source so that silicon compound ions having high energy are ejected from the showerhead through the electrode and deposited on the substrate.

In contrast, physical vapor deposition, which can be represented by a sputtering apparatus, is a method in which enough energy is applied to ions in a plasma to collide with a target, and then sputtered target atoms are deposited on the substrate.

Of course, in addition to the above-described sputtering method, physical vapor deposition may be performed by a method such as E-Beam, Evaporation, Thermal Evaporation, etc. Hereinafter, a sputtering method Is referred to as a physical vapor deposition apparatus.

Among in-line sputtering apparatuses, an in-line sputtering apparatus for forming an in-line work line has an advantage that productivity is improved because a deposition process is performed while a substrate is continuously supplied, and the application thereof is widening.

Such an in-line sputtering apparatus is provided with a roller-type substrate transfer section as means for moving the substrate.

A sputtering shield is provided in the periphery of the substrate moving part in order to protect the substrate moving part, that is, the deposition material is deposited on the substrate moving part so as not to be contaminated. A conventional sputtering shield is fixedly coupled to one side of the chamber.

On the other hand, as the deposition process progresses for a long time, if the deposition plate is deposited with a certain level of deposition material on the surface of the sputtering shield, that is, on the shield plate, the shield plate disturbs the flow of the substrate, can do. Therefore, the contaminated shield plate needs to be replaced or maintained with a new one.

However, since the sputtering shield is fixedly applied to the inline sputtering apparatus according to the prior art, it is necessary to vent the chamber once to replace the sputtering shield, that is, to maintain the sputtering shield, and to replace or maintain the sputtering shield When the repair is completed, the vacuum of the chamber should be pumped again. As described above, in the case of the related art, there is a problem that the operating rate (Uptime) of the equipment is inevitably lowered because the vacuum venting or pumping operation of the chamber must be accompanied during the replacement or maintenance of the sputtering shield.

Korea Patent Office Application No. 10-2008-0024730

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sputtering apparatus capable of easily replacing or maintaining a shield plate of a sputtering shield without vacuum venting or pumping of the chamber, And an in-line sputtering apparatus capable of performing sputtering.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a plasma processing apparatus comprising: a chamber having an inlet and an outlet through which a substrate enters and exits; A substrate moving unit disposed in the chamber and moving the substrate; And a moving shield plate disposed adjacent to the substrate moving unit and capable of preventing deposition of deposition material on the substrate moving unit and capable of entering and exiting the inlet and the outlet of the chamber through the substrate moving unit, The in-line sputtering apparatus may further comprise:

The sputtering shield may further include a docking base for supporting the movable shield plate, wherein the movable shield plate is docked during the deposition process with respect to the substrate, and the movable shield plate is undocked during the maintenance work of the movable shield plate .

The docking base for supporting a plate may include: a stationary bottom plate fixedly disposed at a lower portion of the substrate moving unit; And a docking holder connected to the fixed bottom plate, the docking holder forming a place where the movable shield plate is docked.

The movable shield plate and the docking holder may further include a plate docking unit for docking or docking the movable shield plate with respect to the docking holder.

The plate docking unit may be a magnetic force type plate docking unit for docking the movable shield plate to the docking holder by a magnetic force.

The magnetic force type plate docking unit includes: a magnet type docking module formed of a magnet and provided on the movable shield plate; And an aligned docking station provided in the docking holder for aligning the docking position of the magnetic docking module so that the magnetic docking module can be docked in place.

The magnetic docking module may have a protruding shape, and the aligned docking station may have a groove shape in which the magnetic docking module is docked as a magnetic body.

The magnetic force type plate docking unit may further include a magnet type movement trigger which is formed of a magnet and is movably provided in the docking holder and which generates attraction with the magnet type docking module through the aligned docking station.

And a trigger movement path portion in which the magnet type movement trigger is moved may be formed in the docking holder.

The magnetically driven plate docking unit may further include a trigger actuator connected to the magnet movement trigger and moving the magnet movement trigger.

The magnetic force type plate docking unit may further include a buffer spring disposed between the fixed bottom plate and the movable shield plate and elastically biased in a direction in which the movable shield plate is spaced apart from the fixed bottom plate have.

The sputtering shield may further include at least one pre-aligner for pre-aligning the docking position of the movable shield plate.

Wherein the sputtering shield comprises: an X-axis stopper for restricting movement of the movable shield plate with respect to an X-axis direction in which the movable shield plate is moved through the substrate moving unit; And a Y-axis stopper for restricting movement of the movable shield plate with respect to the Y-axis direction intersecting with the X-axis.

The substrate moving unit includes: a plurality of rollers; And a rotating shaft connected to the plurality of rollers and rotating the plurality of rollers. The movable shield plate may be provided with a plurality of through-holes for exposing the rollers to partially expose the plurality of rollers, The chamber may be a process chamber.

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily replace or maintain the shield plate of the sputtering shield without performing vacuum venting or pumping of the chamber, thereby preventing the operating rate of the equipment from being lowered.

1 is a schematic structural view of an in-line sputtering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an internal structural view of the process chamber shown in Fig.
3 is a schematic plan view of the sputtering shield.
4 is a schematic side sectional view of the sputtering shield.
5 is a view for explaining a plate docking unit, in which the movable shield plate is docked.
FIG. 6 is a view showing the movable shield plate in an undocked state in FIG.
FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the main part of FIG. 2, showing a state in which a deposition process for a substrate proceeds.
FIGS. 8 to 10 are diagrams showing steps of the maintenance work for the movable shield plate.

In order to fully understand the present invention, operational advantages of the present invention, and objects achieved by the practice of the present invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference symbols in the drawings denote like elements.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of an in-line sputtering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an internal structural view of the process chamber shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a schematic plan structure of a sputtering shield, 5 is a view for explaining a plate docking unit in which a movable shield plate is docked, FIG. 6 is a view of the movable shield plate in an undocked state in FIG. 5, and FIG. FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the main part of FIG. 2, showing a state in which the deposition process is proceeding with respect to the substrate, and FIGS. 8 to 10 are diagrams showing the progress of the maintenance work on the movable shield plate step by step .

Before describing the drawings, the substrate to be described below may be a substrate such as a flat panel display such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), a PDP (Plasma Display Panel), an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) Hereinafter, the terms "substrate" and "substrate" are used in common.

1 to 10, the inline sputtering apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a movable shield plate 160 of the sputtering shield 150 without performing vacuum venting or pumping operation of the chamber 110d. plate can be easily replaced or maintained, thereby preventing the operation rate of the equipment from being lowered.

The inline sputtering apparatus includes a chamber 110d, a substrate moving unit 130 provided in the chamber 110d to move the substrate, and a substrate moving unit 130 that prevents the deposition material from accumulating on the substrate moving unit 130 And a movable shield plate 160 capable of entering and exiting the inlet 112a and the outlet 112b of the chamber 110d through the sputtering shield 150. [

The chambers 110a to 110g will be briefly described with reference to FIG. The chambers 110a to 110g include a plurality of functional chambers 100a to 110c and 110e that are connected to the process chamber 110d and form an inline with the process chamber 110d, To 110g).

The plurality of functional chambers 100a to 110c and 110e to 110g includes a load lock chamber 110a into which the substrate is introduced, a heating chamber 110b that heats the substrate from the load lock chamber 110a, A cooling chamber 110f for cooling the substrate from the process chamber 110d and a second buffer chamber 110b for transferring the substrate from the process chamber 110d to the process chamber 110d. A second buffer chamber 110e for transferring the substrate from the cooling chamber 110f to the cooling chamber 110f and an unloading lock chamber 110g for ejecting the substrate from the cooling chamber 110f.

When such an inline structure is applied, the substrate is transferred to the load lock chamber 110a, the heating chamber 110b, the first buffer chamber 110c, the process chamber 110d, the second buffer chamber 110e, the cooling chamber 110f, The deposition process can be performed while passing through the unloading lock chamber 110g.

In this embodiment, a total of seven load lock chambers 110a, a heating chamber 110b, a first buffer chamber 110c, a process chamber 110d, a second buffer chamber 110e, a cooling chamber 110f, And unload lock chamber 110g, but some of them may be omitted or another chamber (not shown) may be added. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the shape of the drawings.

Meanwhile, among the chambers 110a to 110g, the sputtering shield 150 may be provided in the process chamber 110d having the structure as shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, the process chamber 110d will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The process chamber 110d is a chamber for carrying out a deposition process for the substrate, that is, a sputter deposition process, as described above. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the process chamber 110d will be simply referred to as a chamber 110d.

During the deposition process for the substrate, the inside of the chamber 110d is sealed and maintained in a high vacuum state. For this purpose, a gate valve 111a is provided in a lower region of the chamber 110d, and a vacuum pump 111b is provided in a region of the gate valve 111a. Accordingly, when vacuum pressure is generated from the vacuum pump 111b in a state where the gate valve 111a is opened, the inside of the chamber 110d can maintain a high vacuum state.

An inlet 112a through which the substrate is introduced into the chamber 110d is formed on one side wall of the chamber 110d and an outlet 112b through which the substrate having the deposition process completed in the chamber 110d is taken out is formed on the other side wall of the chamber 110d. Is formed.

Although not shown for convenience, a separate gate valve may be provided in the inlet 112a and the outlet 112b. Therefore, when the substrate is moved through the inlet 112a and the outlet 112b, the internal vacuum of the chamber 110d is not destroyed.

In the present embodiment, the movable shield plate 160 of the sputtering shield 150 is also connected to the inlet 112a of the chamber 110d as well as to the substrate through the inlet 112a and the outlet 112b of the chamber 110d. And the exit 112b.

That is, as described above, if the deposition process for the substrate is prolonged for a long time, the movable shield plate 160 may be contaminated by depositing the evaporation material on the movable shield plate 160 of the sputtering shield 150. In this case, ) Should be replaced with a new one.

When the maintenance work for the movable shield plate 160 is proceeded, the vacuum of the chamber 110d is destroyed before the vacuum of the chamber 110d is ventilated, When the maintenance work progresses and the maintenance is completed, the vacuum of the chamber 110d has to be pumped again, so that the operation rate of the equipment has to be reduced.

However, in the case of this embodiment, the movable shield plate 160 may be vacuum-vented to the chamber 110d by providing a structure such that it can be taken in and out through the inlet 112a and the outlet 112b of the chamber 110d, The movable shield plate 160 can be easily replaced or maintained without pumping operation.

2, a cover 114 is provided in the upper region of the chamber 110d. The cover 114 may be coupled to the chamber 110d in such a manner that it externally surrounds the target 140 and the magnet unit 145 region.

In this embodiment, since two targets 140 and a magnet unit 145 are provided in the chamber 110d, the cover 114 covers the chamber 140 in two areas where the target 140 and the magnet unit 145 are located, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 110d. ≪ / RTI >

In this case, the covers 114 are hermetically connected to each other by the leads 115, lid. Of course, since the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, the target 140 and the magnet unit 145 may be provided one by one.

The target 140 serves as a sputter source which is provided in the upper region in the chamber 110d and supplies a deposition material toward the substrate placed in the deposition position on the substrate moving part 130. [ The target 140 and the magnet unit 145 regions may form a cathode and the substrate region may form an anode.

In this embodiment, the target 140 is provided with a planar target 140 that provides a deposition material from the fixed position to the substrate in the lower region. However, a rotatable target (not shown) may be applied, which rotates to provide a deposition material toward the substrate.

A cathode backing plate 120 is provided to surround the magnet unit 145 so that the target 140 is installed and also the magnet unit 145 is airtightly installed.

The cathode backing plate 120 is connected to the power (123, power) of the RF or DC power source. Between the cathode backing plate 120 and the cover 114, there is provided a cathode insulator 121 which hermetically seals them.

The target 140 is coupled to one side of the surface of the cathode backing plate 120 facing the substrate so as to prevent deposition material from being directed toward the cathode backing plate 120 between the chamber 110d and the cathode backing plate 120 A shield 122 is provided.

The shield 122 may be coupled to the cover 114 in a manner surrounding the outer region of the cathode backing plate 120 except for the target 140. The cooling water inflow pipe 124 and the cooling water discharge pipe 125 are connected to the inside of the cathode backing plate 120 outside the chamber 110d for cooling the target 140 area.

A magnet unit 145 for generating a magnetic field for deposition between the substrate 140 and the substrate is provided at one side of the target 140. In this embodiment, the magnet unit 145 may include a plurality of magnets having different sizes that can be adjusted relative to the target 140 in at least one direction. By applying different sizes of the magnets as described above, it is possible to match the flow or intensity of the magnetic field, thereby improving the deposition efficiency.

In the chamber 110d, a substrate moving unit 130 (see Figs. 2 and 3) is provided as means for moving the substrate.

The substrate moving part 130 may include a plurality of rollers 131 for moving the substrate in contact with the substrate and a rotating shaft 132 connected to the plurality of rollers 131 for rotating the plurality of rollers 131 have.

The plurality of rollers 131 serve to support the substrate and to move the substrate drawn into the inlet 112a to the outlet 112b.

As described above, the rollers 131 of the substrate moving unit 130 mainly play the role of moving the substrate. However, in the present embodiment, the movable shield plate 160 As shown in FIG.

A heater 129a for heating a substrate, in particular, a vapor deposition surface of the substrate, is provided below the substrate moving part 130. [ The heater 129a serves to heat the substrate to a temperature required in the process so that the deposition material provided from the target 140 can be well deposited on the substrate.

2 and 3 to 10, the sputtering shield 150 is a structure disposed adjacent to the substrate moving part 130. As shown in FIG. The sputtering shield 150 may include a movable shield plate 160 for preventing the deposition material from accumulating on the substrate moving part 130 and a docking base 170 for supporting the movable shield plate 160 have.

The movable shield plate 160, which can be applied as a wide plate, is disposed adjacent to the substrate moving unit 130 to move the target (not shown) to the operation structure such as the substrate moving unit 130, that is, the roller 131, 140 are piled up to prevent them from being contaminated.

If a large amount of deposition material is accumulated on the roller 131 of the substrate moving part 130, the contamination may interfere with the flow of the substrate, and may cause the backside of the substrate to be scratched or the substrate to be skewed. Accordingly, it is preferable that the substrate moving part 130 is not contaminated with the deposition material as much as possible, and the movable shield plate 160 takes charge of this role.

At this time, since it is difficult for the movable shield plate 160 to completely cover the roller 131, a plurality of roller exposure holes 161 are formed in the movable shield plate 160 to partially expose the plurality of rollers 131 . That is, the remaining area of the substrate moving part 130 except for the roller 131 exposed through the roller exposing hole 161 is blocked by the movable shield plate 160, thereby preventing contamination of the substrate moving part 130 .

However, even if the movable shield plate 160 is applied, evaporation materials are inevitably accumulated on the movable shield plate 160 when the evaporation process is performed. When the evaporation materials above a predetermined level are accumulated, the movable shield plate 160 ) Must be replaced or maintained. However, in the case of this embodiment, since the movable shield plate 160 is applied instead of the fixed type, the movable shield plate 160 is moved through the substrate moving unit 130 And can be moved in and out of the inlet 112a and the outlet 112b of the chamber 110d. Therefore, the movable shield plate 160 can be easily replaced or maintained without vacuum venting or pumping operation of the chamber 110d.

The docking base 170 for supporting the plate supports the movable shield plate 160 so that the movable shield plate 160 is docked during the deposition process for the substrate and the movable shield plate 160 is fixed during the maintenance work of the movable shield plate 160. [ Thereby undocking.

At this time, when the deposition process for the substrate proceeds, the movable shield plate 160 is docked to the plate supporting docking base 170 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7.

However, when the maintenance work of the movable shield plate 160 is proceeding, the movable shield plate 160 may be undocked from the plate supporting docking base 170 as shown in FIGS.

The plate supporting docking base 170 includes a fixed bottom plate 171 fixed to the lower portion of the substrate moving unit 130 and a movable bottom plate 171 connected to the movable bottom plate 171, And may include a docking holder 173 that forms a location to be substantially docked.

A plurality of pre-aligners 153 and X-axis stoppers 151 and Y-axis stoppers 152 may be further provided on the plate supporting docking base 170 as shown in FIG.

The pre-aligner 153 serves to pre-align the docking position of the movable shield plate 160. It is preferable that at least two of the prealigners 153 are positioned in the diagonal direction.

The X axis stopper 151 serves to restrict the movement of the movable shield plate 160 in the X axis direction in which the movable shield plate 160 is moved through the substrate moving unit 130, The movable plate 152 restricts the movement of the movable shield plate 160 with respect to the Y axis direction intersecting the X axis.

When the prealigner 153, the X-axis stopper 151, and the Y-axis stopper 152 are provided, the movable shield plate 160 can be pre-aligned by the X-axis stopper 151 and the Y-axis stopper 152, There is an advantage in that it can be docked in place by the part 180.

5 and 7, the movable shield plate 160 is docked to the docking holder 173, and during the maintenance work of the movable shield plate 160, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the movable shield plate 160 160 can be undocked from the docking holder 173.

In other words, the plate docking unit 180 is provided in the movable shield plate 160 and the docking holder 173 and serves to dock or undock the movable shield plate 160 with respect to the docking holder 173.

The plate docking unit 180 may include a magnetic plate docking unit 180 for docking the movable shield plate 160 to the docking holder 173 by a magnetic force, . The structure of the plate docking unit 180 can be simplified by applying a magnetic force to the plate docking unit 180 as in the present embodiment. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these matters.

5 to 6, the magnetic force type plate docking unit 180 includes a magnetic docking module 181 provided in the movable shield plate 160 and a docking holder 173 provided in the docking holder 173, And an aligned docking station 182 that aligns the docking position of the magnetic docking module 181 so that the docking station 181 can be docked in place.

The magnetic docking module 181 may be applied, for example, as a ferromagnetic permanent magnet. The magnetic docking module 181 may take the form of a protrusion.

In contrast, the alignment docking station 182 may have a groove shape in which the magnetic docking module 181 is docked to be shaped. The alignment docking station 182 may be applied as a paramagnetic. In other words, the magnetic docking module 181 can be applied as a strong permanent magnet, and the aligned docking station 182 can be applied as a metal material.

A magnetic type docking module 181 as a strong permanent magnet is provided on the movable shield plate 160 in the form of protrusions and an aline docking station 182 as a metal material is provided on the docking holder 173 in a groove shape There is an advantage that the magnetic docking module 181 can be docked in its proper position when the docking station 182 is docked.

For reference, in the present embodiment, the magnetic docking module 181 is provided in a protrusion shape and the aligned docking station 182 is provided in a groove shape, but the opposite structure may be applied. That is, the magnetic docking module 181 may be provided in a groove shape and the aligned docking station 182 may be provided in a protrusion form, all of which are within the scope of the present invention.

In addition to the configuration of the magnetic docking module 181 and the alignment docking station 182, the magnetic plate docking unit 180 may include a magnetic movement trigger 183 and a buffer spring 186.

The magnet movement trigger 183 is formed of a magnet and is movably provided in the docking holder 173. [ The magnetic transfer trigger 183 serves to generate attraction with the magnetic docking module 181 with the alignment docking station 182 therebetween.

The magnetic transfer trigger 183 can also be applied as a ferromagnetic permanent magnet like the magnetic docking module 181 when the magnetic docking module 181 is moved and disposed adjacent to the magnetic docking module 181, So that the magnetic docking module 181 is firmly coupled to the aligned docking station 182. [0034] FIG. The attractive force formed between the magnetic transfer trigger 183 and the magnetic docking module 181 is designed to be stronger than the elastic force of the buffer spring 186. [

The magnetism movement trigger 183 can be moved on the trigger movement path portion 184 in the docking holder 173 as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. A trigger actuator 185 for moving the magnetic movement trigger 183 is connected to the magnetic movement trigger 183 so that the magnetic movement trigger 183 can be moved on the trigger movement path portion 184. [ The trigger actuator 185 may be a cylinder or a linear motor.

The buffer spring 186 may be disposed between the stationary bottom plate 171 and the movable shield plate 160 in a position that is not interfered with the roller 131. The buffer spring 186 is elastically biased in a direction in which the movable shield plate 160 is spaced apart from the fixed bottom plate 171.

6 and 8, the movable shield plate 160 having a high degree of contamination is docked in the docking holder 173 of the docking base 170 for plate support, and then is docked to the outside of the chamber 110d as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 At this time, the buffer spring 186 provides a force to float the movable shield plate 160 so that the movable shield plate 160 is undocked in the docking holder 173. When the magnetic movement trigger 183 is separated from the magnetic docking module 181 as shown in FIG. 6, the strong attraction between the magnetic movement trigger 183 and the magnetic docking module 181 disappears and the magnetic docking module 181 moves to the aligned docking station 182 The elastic force of the buffer spring 186 exceeds the magnetic force between the magnetic docking module 181 and the aligning docking station 182 to move the movable shield plate 160 To be undocked.

The operation of the in-line sputtering apparatus having such a configuration will be described below.

The substrate introduced through the load lock chamber 110a may be introduced into the process chamber 110d through the heating chamber 110b and the first buffer chamber 110c. That is, the substrate past the first buffer chamber 110c may be introduced into the inlet 112a of the chamber 110d, and then moved by the roller 131 of the substrate moving unit 130 to be disposed in a proper position. The state at this time is shown in Fig.

When the substrate is placed in the correct position as shown in FIG. 7, the deposition process for the substrate proceeds. That is, when a negative voltage is applied to the target 140 from the power 123, the electrons emitted from the target 140 collide with the argon (Ar) gas to ionize the argon (Ar) gas.

The ionized argon (Ar) gas is accelerated in the direction of the target 140 by a potential difference to collide with the surface of the target 140. At this time, atoms of the target 140, that is, a deposition material are generated from the target 140, The deposition process of the substrate proceeds while falling on the deposition surface.

The substrate is taken out through the outlet 112b by the roller 131 of the substrate moving unit 130 and then the second buffer chamber 110e, the cooling chamber 110f and the unloading chamber 110g are removed, The process goes out of the process.

When such a deposition process is in progress, a magnetic transfer trigger 183 is disposed adjacent to the magnetic docking module 181 as shown in Figs. 5 and 7. A strong attraction is then generated between the magnetic transfer trigger 183 and the magnetic docking module 181 which is stronger than the resilient force of the buffer spring 186 so that the magnetic docking module 181 is strongly attracted to the aligned docking station 182 It can be maintained in a coupled state.

On the other hand, when the deposition process for a plurality of substrates is performed for a long time, the movable shield plate 160 may be contaminated with a large amount of deposition material on the movable shield plate 160. The contaminated movable shield plate 160 is removed from the chamber 110d for maintenance, and a new one can be mounted. Conventionally, the vacuum of the chamber 110d has to be vented for this operation. However, in this embodiment, the replacement work of the movable shield plate 160, that is, the maintenance work, can be performed without vacuum venting.

That is, when the contaminated mobile shield plate 160 is removed from the chamber 110d, the magnet type movement trigger 183 is separated from the magnetic docking module 181 by the action of the trigger actuator 185 as shown in FIG. Then, the attractive force between the magnetic movement trigger 183 and the magnetic docking module 181 disappears.

There is only a force such that the magnetic docking module 181 is magnetically docked to the aligned docking station 182 when the attracting force between the tray movement trigger 183 and the magnetic docking module 181 disappears, Due to the elastic force of the designed buffer spring 186, the movable shield plate 160 is docked as shown in FIGS. In other words, the movable shield plate 160 is spaced on top of the docking base 170 for plate support.

When the movable shield plate 160 is separated from the upper part of the docking base 170 for supporting the plate and placed on the roller 131 of the substrate moving part 130 and the roller 131 is operated, Can be taken out of the chamber 110d through the outlet 112b of the chamber 110d by the action of the valve 131.

On the other hand, when the contaminated movable shield plate 160 is taken out of the chamber 110d, a new movable shield plate (not shown) is drawn on the opposite side, that is, on the inlet 112a side of the chamber 110d.

When the new movable shield plate reaches the vicinity of the plate supporting docking base 170, it is positioned by being pre-aligned by the pre-aligner 153 and the X-axis stopper 151 and the Y-axis stopper 152. And then is docked into place on the docking base 170 for plate support by the plate docking unit 180 so that the deposition process for the new substrate proceeds as shown in FIG.

According to the present embodiment having the structure and operation as described above, it is possible to easily replace or maintain the shield plate of the sputtering shield without performing vacuum venting or pumping of the chamber, Can be prevented from lowering.

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 or scope of the invention. It is therefore intended that such modifications or alterations be within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

110d: process chamber 114: cover
115: lead 120: cathode backing plate
130: substrate moving part 131: roller
132: rotating shaft 140: target
145: Magnet unit 150: Sputtering shield
151: X-axis stopper 152: Y-axis stopper
153: Prealigner 160: Movable shield plate
161: Through-hole for roller exposure 170: Docking base for plate support
171: Fixed bottom plate 173: Docking holder
180: plate docking part 181: magnetic docking module
182: alignment docking station 183: magnetic movement trigger
184: Trigger moving path unit 185: Trigger actuator
186: Buffer spring

Claims (14)

A chamber having an inlet and an outlet through which a substrate enters and exits, the chamber performing a deposition process on the substrate;
A substrate moving unit disposed in the chamber and moving the substrate; And
A moving shield plate disposed adjacent to the substrate moving part and capable of preventing deposition of deposition material on the substrate moving part and capable of entering and exiting the inlet and the outlet of the chamber through the substrate moving part; In-line sputtering apparatus. The method according to claim 1,
In the sputtering shield,
And a docking base for supporting the movable shield plate, wherein the movable shield plate is docked during a deposition process for the substrate, and the movable shield plate is undocked during a maintenance operation of the movable shield plate. In-line sputtering apparatus. 3. The method of claim 2,
The plate-supporting docking base includes:
A fixed bottom plate fixedly disposed below the substrate moving unit; And
And a docking holder connected to the fixed bottom plate and defining a location where the movable shield plate is docked. The method of claim 3,
Further comprising a plate docking unit provided on the movable shield plate and the docking holder for docking or docking the movable shield plate with respect to the docking holder. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the plate docking unit is a magnetic force type plate docking unit for docking the movable shield plate to the docking holder by a magnetic force. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the magnetic force type plate docking portion comprises:
A magnetic docking module formed of a magnet and provided on the movable shield plate; And
And an aligned docking station provided in the docking holder for aligning the docking position of the magnetic docking module so that the magnetic docking module can be docked in place. The method according to claim 6,
The magnetic docking module has a protruding shape,
Wherein the aligned docking station has a groove shape in which the magnetic docking module is docked to be shaped as a magnetic body. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the magnetic force type plate docking portion comprises:
Further comprising a magnetic movement trigger formed of a magnet and movably provided in the docking holder for generating attraction with the magnetic docking module via the aligned docking station. 9. The method of claim 8,
And a trigger movement path portion in which the magnetic movement trigger is moved is formed in the docking holder. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the magnetic force type plate docking portion comprises:
Further comprising a trigger actuator coupled to the magnetic movement trigger and adapted to move the magnetic movement trigger. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the magnetic force type plate docking portion comprises:
Further comprising a buffer spring disposed between the fixed bottom plate and the movable shield plate and elastically biased in a direction in which the movable shield plate is spaced apart from the fixed bottom plate. The method according to claim 1,
In the sputtering shield,
Further comprising at least one pre-aligner for pre-aligning the docking position of the movable shield plate. The method according to claim 1,
In the sputtering shield,
An X-axis stopper for restricting movement of the movable shield plate with respect to an X-axis direction in which the movable shield plate is moved through the substrate moving unit; And
Further comprising a Y-axis stopper for restricting movement of the movable shield plate with respect to a Y-axis direction intersecting with the X-axis. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein:
A plurality of rollers; And
And a rotating shaft connected to the plurality of rollers and rotating the plurality of rollers,
Wherein the movable shield plate is provided with a plurality of through holes for exposing the rollers to partially expose the plurality of rollers,
Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 1, < / RTI > wherein the chamber is a process chamber.

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