JPS58141214A - Treatment of thin-film element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate faults and surface stains formed during thin-film formation and to thereby efffect a stable treatment, by securely cooling the polymer substrate side of a thin-film element and performing light irradiation in vacuum. CONSTITUTION:A long, wide thin-film element 1 having a thin-film on a polymer substrate moves along the periphery of a roller 2 for cooling the polymer substrate, treated and then wound around a winding system. A vacuum tank 6 is divided into spaces 7, 8 and 9. Space 7 is a chamber for carrying out irradiation with electron beams 10, and maintained under a vacuum of below 10<-4>Torr. Electron beams emitted from an electron gun 12 are deflected and scanned by deflecting coils 13. Space 8 is a chamber for light treatment into which a gas such as O2 is introduced from a gas inlet system 15. A light source of a halogen lamp is situated near the focal point of a reflecting mirror 17. Space 9 is a chamber for a glow treatment to neutralize apparently the charge of the polymer substrate due to the generation of a trupping level and to maintain the pressure difference.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is used to manufacture a functional thin film element in which a thin film of semiconductor, magnetic material, etc. is formed on one side of a polymer molded substrate. The present invention relates to improvements in treatment methods for removing contamination and stabilizing the environment.

Recently, smooth polyethylene terephthalate (P.

co, Co-14 on a polymer substrate such as E, T, ) substrate.
Magnetic tapes made of alloy thin films formed by vapor deposition methods and solar cells made of amorphous silicon thin films have been developed, and some of them are now in practical use.

A drawback of these devices is that they cannot withstand long-term use in a practical environment if only the thin film manufacturing conditions are controlled.

Unlike the case of solar cells, magnetic tape has a protective layer on its surface, but due to space loss, there are restrictions on the thickness for short wavelength recording video applications, etc., and the thickness of the protective layer is at most There were about 200 people.

However, it is difficult to newly form a thin film having a protective effect with this thickness by means such as sputtering or vapor deposition. This is because the substrate is made of polymer, so it is not possible to raise the temperature when forming a thin film.

Therefore, it is important to devise a method for increasing the corrosion resistance of the magnetic layer itself.

One possible solution is to use partial oxidation technology during vacuum deposition.

Although this method seems to be a fairly reasonable solution, the deposition rate used to produce the tape on an industrial scale is 2.0
00 people/sec, which is extremely high and 100 to 1,000 times the deposition rate normally used for research in laboratories. Therefore, defects remain in the oxide film formed on the surface of the crystalline atom by vapor deposition in oxygen.

・In order to reduce dangling bonds in solar cells, gases such as H2 and 02 are used during vapor deposition, sputtering, glow discharge deposition, and glow discharge polymerization, but defects can occur not only on the surface but also inside. Otherwise, leakage current increases and only a low electromotive force can be obtained.

The method used to deal with these problems is a technique called aging.

Unfortunately, even in this method, since a polymeric material is used for the substrate, there are restrictions on the temperature of the aging conditions. Therefore, a long period of aging is required, and defects that cannot be cured by time alone remain, making it impossible to make sufficient improvements.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and it is possible to treat the thin film layer at high temperature by concentrating and irradiating light that is mainly absorbed by the thin film and containing high-temperature light such as polyethylene terephthalate. It provides a method that can be applied completely throughout the entire process.

The methods adopted for this purpose were to reliably cool the substrate side and to perform light irradiation under reduced pressure to ensure stable processing.

The figure shows an example of a device for carrying out the invention.

A long, wide thin film element 1 having a thin film provided on a polymer substrate is connected to a roller 2 (which circulates a medium, which cools the polymer substrate, and whose temperature is regulated and whose temperature is controlled at a constant temperature). ) is mounted on a winding system configured to move along the circumferential side of the film, to be processed and to be wound up.

The components of the winding system are a feed shaft 3, a winding shaft 4, and a winding shaft 4 in the figure. Although only the free roller 61 and the row 22 are shown, it goes without saying that other known elements may be introduced as necessary.

Although the vacuum chamber 6 is divided into three spaces 7, 8, and 9 in the figure, there may be cases where further division is necessary depending on the differential pressure conditions, but this can be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a room in which electron beam 1o is irradiated, and is configured to be evacuated, for example, by a cryopump 11, and maintained at 1e)-' Torr or less. An electron beam is emitted from an electron gun 12 and deflected and scanned by a deflection coil 13. The effects of this electron beam irradiation are that after the thin film is formed in a separate vacuum system, it is a cleaning agent that expels the gas that has been adsorbed due to exposure to the atmosphere; By selecting the energy of the electron beam that reaches the polymer substrate, a compensation level is generated in the polymer by electron injection. (Even if you do not do this actively, normal mechanical systems are naturally placed at ground potential.) The electrostatic force increases vertical pressure on the circumferential surface of the rotating roller, resulting in extremely good heat transfer.

This effect is particularly remarkable in a vacuum, and it has been confirmed in another experiment that the heat transfer coefficient can be reduced to about 1/1000 by performing the above treatment. →This effect makes it possible to increase the energy density of light treatment and achieve high-temperature treatment.

8 is a room for light processing. A gas introduction system 16 is provided, which is configured to exhaust gas with a pump 14 and introduce gas such as 02 by adjusting a needle valve.

The light source is, for example, a logen lamp 16 whose length in the width direction is equal to or longer than the width of the substrate, and placed near the focal point of the reflecting mirror 17 (usually an elliptical mirror), and positioned at the thin film surface. It is configured so that the light 18 is condensed. Although the figure shows a case where three sets of light sources are provided, it is preferable to have two sets working and one set as a spare so that processing can be continued even in the event of a failure. Of course, the number of light sources, wattage, etc. are determined in relation to the processing speed.

Space 9 performs glow treatment to apparently neutralize the charge caused by the generation of trapped levels in the polymer substrate, and also when the differential pressure between the electron beam irradiation chamber and the photoprocessing chamber cannot be maintained at one stage. It is also effective in maintaining differential pressure. J19 schematically shows an electrode for glow treatment. This differs depending on the selection of alternating current, direct current, and high frequency, and also differs depending on the use of magnetic field action, but this is a design matter.

20.21 is the hole for obtaining the differential pressure.

Whether or not gas should be introduced for the glow treatment on the back side of the substrate is not indicated because it depends on the pressure of the light treatment chamber, the pressure of the glow treatment, and the design of the stirrer, so it can be covered by the introduction of gas into the light treatment chamber. However, it goes without saying that they may be provided individually.

Next, the present invention will be specifically explained in detail.

1 Example 1 Co-rotating roller: diameter 1 m, surface finishing accuracy 0.098 Circulating medium temperature: 25 ± 0.6°C Processing target: Minimum incident angle of 36° on polyethylene terephthalate film (thickness 9.6 μm) The processing conditions for the original fabric, in which CO was evaporated to a thickness of 1 μm at an oxygen pressure of 3×10' Torr, are shown in the table below.

(Left below) 0 [Example 2] Rotating roller: diameter 1 m + surface finishing accuracy 0.04
8 Circulating medium temperature; 40° ± 1°C Processing target: Polyethylene terephthalate film (thickness 11.6 μm) at a minimum incident angle of 40° and an oxygen partial pressure of 2.5 x 10 TOrT Q
, 15 μm thick Coso % Ni2O film was deposited on a magnetic tape with a width of 60 mm (1'1 m and a length of 400 m). Processing conditions: film speed of 2 orr)/1 inch constant electron beam a s Key , e 6 o mm Electron beam irradiation area 0.08rn' Back glow condition 60Hz, 400'0.2mm~330
0.4 μm light irradiation s x 1o'(/m'') x 2 group Atmosphere conditions are as shown in the table below.

11 [Example 3] Rotating roller: diameter 'm + surface finishing accuracy O, 1S Circulating medium temperature = 120°C ± 2°C Processing target: On a polyamide film (thickness 12 μm),
Amorphous silicon film was formed using high frequency (15,66MH2) sputtering method at 9X10-3Torr, H23X1O-''r
Processing conditions for a solar cell original fabric with a width of 50 cIIL and a length of 1,200 m formed to a thickness of 0.6 μm in a discharge gas atmosphere of r. Condition 60) 1z, 400 0.22mm~32
0 0.5 μm light irradiation 5 × 10” (T/m”) × 2 groups 1-
After storing the 14 samples at 3-Di for 4 weeks and 10 weeks in an environment of 60°C and 96 SRH, the magnetic properties of the magnetic tape were measured using a vibrating sample magnetometer, and the electrical conductivity of the amorphous silicon was measured. We investigated the rate of change. The results are shown in the two tables below. In each table, the increase/decrease from the initial value is expressed as a percentage.

3 4 As is clear from the results shown in the table above, the samples treated according to the present invention show extremely small changes over time.

Furthermore, in order to compare the stability under other conditions between the product treated according to the present invention and the conventional product, 40'C80CHRH,
When the changes in characteristics were investigated when the product was left in an atmosphere containing 16 ppm of 30'C80CH 802 gas or in a hot spring area, a clear significant difference was found between the two.

As described above, the present invention makes it possible to maintain stable performance,
Its industrial value is a dog.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure is a diagram showing an example of an apparatus for carrying out the present invention. 1... Thin film element, 2, 6... Roller,
6...Vacuum chamber, 1o...Electron beam, 16
...Light source, 17...Reflector, 19...
...Glow electrode.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A thin film element having a thin film layer provided on one side of a polymer substrate is made to run along a metal roller whose temperature has been determined 1 with the thin film layer facing outside, and a thin film element is made to run along a metal roller whose temperature is determined. irradiating the thin film element with an electron beam, and
A method for processing a thin film element, comprising irradiating the thin film element with linearly focused light in the width direction of the thin film element under reduced pressure.