JPH1036967A - Sputtering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sputtering device capable of efficiently and swiftly executing the exchanging and cleaning operation of a film roll, a target or the like, high in the equipment working ratio and capable of efficiently producing a functional film using a plastic film as a substrate. SOLUTION: This device is the one in which a target is coiled from a film roll 6, and while being transferred, the target is sputtered to deposit thin coating film and to produce a functional film. At least a part of both side walls 1A and 1B facing to a vacuum tank 1 is composed of the walls capable of opening and closing, furthermore, an apparatus in the vacuum tank as a film carrying means is set to either wall capable of opening, and an apparatus in the vacuum tank as a cathode electrode means is set to the other wall capable of opening, and the extending directions of the apparatus in the vaccum tank as the film carrying means and that as the cathode electrode means from the vacuum tank 1 are made reverse.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a sputtering apparatus for continuously depositing a functional thin film on a long plastic film while transferring the plastic film, and particularly to a sputtering apparatus suitable for producing a transparent conductive film. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a transparent conductive film manufactured by laminating a transparent conductive thin film made of a metal oxide film such as ITO on a plastic film used as a transparent electrode material of a flat panel display such as a liquid crystal display has recently been manufactured. Film formation by the sputtering method has become mainstream.

As a sputtering apparatus for continuously depositing a transparent conductive thin film on the plastic film, a sputtering apparatus as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is used. That is, the vacuum chamber 1 is divided into a sputtering chamber 3 for depositing a desired thin film and a preliminary processing chamber 4 for performing a necessary degassing process or the like by the partition walls 2, and each of them is independently evacuated by exhaust means (not shown). ing. The preprocessing chamber 4 is provided with a support shaft 11 for unwinding means of the film transport means 10 and a winding shaft 12 for winding means. Sputter chamber 3
Is provided with a cooling drum 13 also serving as an anode electrode of the film transport means 10 and transfer rollers 14 and 15 comprising free rollers for guiding the plastic film 5 to the cooling drum 13. On both sides of the cooling drum 13, a cathode electrode means 20 is provided on the tank wall of the vacuum tank 1 via a support part 22 so that a target 21 faces the peripheral surface thereof. Sputtering is performed by supplying a sputtering gas and supplying power between both electrodes, so that a film can be formed on the plastic film 5 transported by the cooling drum 13. Note that FIG.
Reference numeral 23 denotes a target base for the cathode electrode.
1A is a drive unit of the unwinding unit, 13A is a drive unit of the cooling drum, and a drive unit of the winding unit is not shown.

[0004] In the above sputtering apparatus, a functional film such as a transparent conductive film is manufactured as follows. The plastic film 5 is rewound from the film roll 6 set on the support shaft 11 of the unwinding means as shown in the drawing, and is transferred to the sputtering chamber 3 through the passage of the partition 2, where the transfer roller 14 and the cooling roller 13 are provided. ,
The target 21 is sputtered while being transferred by the transfer roller 15 to deposit a desired thin film, transferred again to the pretreatment chamber 4 through the other passage of the partition 2, and set on the winding shaft 12 of the winding means. Product roll 7
Thus, a functional film such as a transparent conductive film is continuously produced in lots. In addition, if necessary, a heater or the like is installed in a transfer path between the film roll 6 of the preliminary processing chamber 4 and one of the paths of the partition walls, and degassing processing and the like are performed.

In the above-mentioned sputtering apparatus, when the production of one lot is completed, the film roll 6 is replaced, the product roll 7 is removed, and in some cases, the target 2 is removed.
1 needs to be replaced. In addition, in order to perform stable sputtering, it is necessary to clean an unnecessary sputtered dust film adhered to the inner wall of the vacuum chamber 1 by sputtering. Therefore, in such a sputtering apparatus, the vacuum chamber 1 is developed and opened periodically, and the above-described replacement and cleaning are performed.

Therefore, in the above-described sputtering apparatus, as shown in the side view of FIG.
Is provided on a carriage 8 provided with wheels so as to be able to move back and forth separately from the main body of the vacuum chamber 1, and the film transfer means 1 is provided on the side wall 1A.
0 unwinding shaft 11 and winding shaft 1
2. The cooling drum 13 and the transfer rollers 14 and 15 are provided.

Therefore, the above exchange and cleaning are performed as follows. After the vacuum chamber 1 is leaked and returned to the atmospheric pressure, bolts such as bolts (not shown) are removed to remove the side wall 1.
A is retracted and deployed, and the side wall of the vacuum chamber 1 is opened. After retreating, the film roll 6 of the unwinding shaft 11 and the product roll 7 of the winding shaft 12 are heavy and are lifted and replaced by a hoist.

On the other hand, replacement of the target 21 is performed as follows. The target 21 is attached by bolts or the like to a cathode base 23 fixed to the vacuum chamber 1 via a support 22. In general, when a film having a width of about 1 m is used as the plastic film 5 of the substrate, the size of the vacuum chamber 1 is large enough for a person to enter, and the target 21 is placed in the vacuum chamber 1 at atmospheric pressure. Carry out the replacement work with a carrying tool. Since the target 21 is heavy, but is limited in a carrier such as a suspended carrier such as a hoist cannot be used because the target 21 is in the vacuum chamber 1, its replacement requires time and labor, and is dangerous work. Becomes

[0009] Further, after the above replacement work is completed,
Cleans the entire sputter dust film in the tank. Therefore,
It takes a lot of time from the start of the leak until the cleaning is completed.

[0010]

As described above, in the prior art, the replacement and cleaning work of the film roll and the target requires a great amount of time, and the ratio of the replacement and cleaning work to the total operation time is short. However, there is a problem that the facility operation rate is low and the production efficiency is not improved.

The present invention has been made in order to solve this problem, and the above-described replacement cleaning work can be efficiently and quickly performed, the equipment operation rate is high, and the transparent conductive film using a plastic film as a substrate is provided. An object of the present invention is to provide a sputtering apparatus capable of efficiently producing a functional film such as a film.

[0012]

The above objects are achieved by the present invention described below. That is, the present invention relates to an unwinding unit, a supporting drum in which a cathode electrode unit is arranged so that a target faces a peripheral surface, a winding unit, and a transfer roller provided in a necessary part therebetween. A film transport means consisting of a long plastic film is unwound from a film roll set on a support shaft of the unwind means, and the target is sputtered while being transported by a support drum to form a thin film. In a sputtering apparatus in which a functional film is manufactured by winding up a roll by a winding means, at least a part of both side walls facing the vacuum chamber is made openable and closable, and one of the openable walls is opened and closed. A device in the vacuum chamber of the film transport means is installed on a wall, and a device in the vacuum chamber of the cathode electrode means is installed on the other openable wall. A sputtering apparatus is characterized in that the deployment direction of the vacuum chamber of the vacuum chamber device of the cathode electrode means and the reverse direction.

In the present invention, as described above, a target requiring replacement in a vacuum chamber and a support portion such as a film roll or a product roll are respectively installed on openable walls that can be opened and closed, and are placed outside the vacuum chamber in the opposite direction. It can be moved and replaced so that it can be replaced at the same time so that the replacement work can be done quickly and safely, and the cooling drum, transfer roller, etc. are also provided on the openable wall so that it can be moved out of the vacuum chamber. The cleaning work can be facilitated and the cleaning work can be performed at the same time, and as a whole, the replacement cleaning work can be greatly shortened and the work safety can be improved.

In the present invention, the opening and closing are preferably performed in a forward and backward movement in order to secure a sufficient moving distance, but a door system can also be applied to a relatively small device.

The openable wall preferably has the entire side surface of the vacuum tank as an openable wall for cleaning the inside of the vacuum tank.
On the other hand, in the case of a large apparatus, it is necessary to make only necessary portions of the side walls openable from the viewpoint of strength, equipment cost, and the like, and it is appropriately selected according to cases.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings based on examples used for manufacturing a transparent conductive film.

[0017]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the overall structure of a sputtering apparatus according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view from the side thereof. As is clear from the figures, the basic configuration of the sputtering apparatus is exactly the same as that of the conventional apparatus shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and the description thereof is omitted. 1 and 2 used in FIGS. 3 and 4 are the same.

As is clear from the drawing, the film transport means of the apparatus of the present embodiment is separated from the vacuum chamber 1 by the carriage 8 and is horizontally separated from the vacuum chamber 1 in the same manner as in the conventional apparatus of FIGS. Is provided on the side wall 1A which can be moved back and forth with respect to. That is, the supporting shaft 11 of the unwinding means, the cooling drum 13, and the winding shaft 12 of the winding means which need to be driven are each driven by the drive unit 11 provided outside the side wall 1A.
A and 13A (12A is not shown) are connected to a shaft seal portion (not shown) so that they can be driven.
Then, similarly to the above-described conventional apparatus, the unwinding shaft 11, the cooling drum 13, the winding shaft 12, the transfer rollers 14, 15 and the driving unit 11 which are the devices in the vacuum chamber of the film transport means.
A, 12A, and 13A have a structure integral with the side wall 1 and are installed on the carriage 8 and are movable in the roller axis direction. The carriage 8 moves and separates from the main body of the vacuum chamber 1 to deploy the vacuum chamber 1. .

On the other hand, the cathode electrode means 20 in which the target 21 is installed so as to be substantially parallel to the peripheral surface of the cooling drum 13 also serving as the anode electrode at a distance of several tens of millimeters faces the side wall 1A. The other side wall 1B is provided on the carriage 9 in the same manner as the side wall 1A so as to be able to move back and forth in the horizontal direction toward the vacuum chamber 1, and is installed as follows. Target part 24 of cathode electrode means 20
Is composed of a target 21, a target base and a cooling unit (not shown), a magnet for magnetron sputtering (not shown), and the like, and has a box-type unit configuration. The target portion 24 is provided on the side wall 1B via the support portion 22. The cooling water piping and power supply wiring of the target portion 24 are drawn out to the side wall 1B through the support portion 22, where they are connected to external cooling water piping and power supply wiring by couplings such as joints and sockets that can be easily connected and separated. It supplies cooling water and electric power.

That is, the cathode electrode means 20 is connected to the side wall 1.
B is integrally attached to the trolley 9 of the support structure,
It is movable in the roller axis direction, moves in the direction opposite to the carriage 8 of the film transport means 10, separates from the main body of the vacuum chamber 1, and unfolds the vacuum chamber 1.

As described above, the side wall 1A provided with the film transport means 10 and the side wall 1 provided with the cathode electrode means 20 are provided.
B is a side wall that is parallel and facing, and its development direction is 18
0 degrees different, completely opposite direction. Therefore, in the unfolded state, the sputtering apparatus of this example includes a cylindrical vacuum chamber 1 main body,
A trolley 8 in which the film transport means 10 and the side wall 1A are integrated.
Then, the plurality of cathode electrode means 20 and the side wall 1B are separated into three structures of the carriage 9 integrated with each other.

The vacuum chamber 1 of this embodiment is large enough to allow a person to enter the expanded vacuum chamber 1 and work. Since the vacuum chamber 1 is expanded and separated into three structures as described above, it is possible to carry heavy objects. Workability such as the work of replacing the film roll 7 and the product roll 8 as the work, the work of replacing the cathode 21 which is also the work of transporting heavy objects, and the cleaning work requiring various cleaning tools can be performed in a sufficient space. Therefore, work efficiency is improved, and if necessary, several tasks can be performed simultaneously.
Replacement cleaning work time can be reduced. Therefore, the facility operation rate can be increased, and a functional film such as a transparent conductive film using a plastic film as a substrate can be efficiently produced.

In the sputtering apparatus of the present embodiment, an indium tin (ITO) target is set on both targets 21, a 1000 m long polyester film is set on the film roll 7, and the transparent conductive layer is made of an ITO film. Ten lots of transparent conductive films were manufactured. As a result, the replacement cleaning time, which was about 8 hours in the conventional apparatus shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, was significantly reduced to 1 hour in this example. As a result, the facility operation rate has been greatly improved, twice as much as before.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, the film transport means and the cathode electrode means of the sputtering apparatus are installed on an openable side wall which can be opened and closed, and both means can be moved from the vacuum chamber main body to the outside. , Replacement of product rolls and targets, vacuum chamber cleaning, and high efficiency and safety of cleaning work.Replacement and cleaning work time is greatly reduced, and high operation efficiency is obtained as a whole. is there. As described above, the present invention makes a great contribution to improving the productivity of a sputtering apparatus for producing a functional film such as a transparent conductive film.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an overall configuration of a sputtering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the sputtering apparatus according to the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a conventional sputtering apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the conventional sputtering apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vacuum tank 1A, 1B Side wall 2 Partition wall 3 Sputter chamber 4 Preprocessing chamber 5 Plastic film 6 Film roll 7 Product roll 8, 9 cart 10 Film conveyance means 20 Cathode electrode means

Claims (6)

[Claims] An unwinding means, a supporting drum on which a cathode electrode means is arranged so that a target faces the peripheral surface, a winding means, and a transfer roller provided at a necessary portion therebetween. A film transport means is disposed in a vacuum chamber, a long plastic film is unwound from a film roll set on a support shaft of the unwind means, and a target is sputtered while being transported by a support drum to form a thin film. In a sputtering apparatus in which a functional film is manufactured by being deposited and wound up on a roll by winding means, at least a part of both side walls facing the vacuum chamber is made openable and closable, and one openable wall is provided. The equipment in the vacuum chamber of the film transport means is installed on the other side, and the equipment in the vacuum chamber of the cathode electrode means is installed on the other openable wall. A sputtering apparatus, wherein the developing direction of the electrode means from the vacuum chamber of the equipment in the vacuum chamber is reversed. 2. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said openable wall is an openable wall which can move back and forth by a predetermined distance separately from a vacuum chamber. 3. The entirety of the both side walls is an openable wall.
Or the sputtering apparatus according to claim 2. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the equipment in the vacuum chamber of the film transport means is a support shaft of the unwinding means, a cooling drum, a winding shaft of the winding means, and a transfer roller. Sputtering equipment. 5. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the equipment in the vacuum chamber of the cathode electrode means is a target and a supporting portion thereof. 6. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the functional film is a transparent conductive film.