KR102626873B1 - Electrode deposition method using HiPIMS - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a deposition method of forming an electrode using HiPIMS in a vacuum chamber, in which the silver deposit has kinetic energy through HiPIMS vacuum equipment including a vacuum chamber, thereby forming a strong plasma on the target, significantly increasing the amount of carbon dioxide compared to the existing one. Step (a) of forming silver ions and maximizing the kinetic energy of the silver ions by applying high power to the plastic object; It includes step (b) of realizing excellent adhesion between the plastic coating material and the silver deposit by minimizing thermal damage to the plastic coating material despite the collision of kinetic energy, and in step (a), the HiPIMS vacuum equipment includes a vacuum chamber and a vacuum chamber. It consists of a sputtering device that injects gas into the interior, and has a structure in which (-) power is applied to the target inside the vacuum chamber of the HiPIMS vacuum equipment, and (+) power is grounded to the vacuum chamber. Step (c) of providing direct current power applied from an external direct current power supply rather than being used alone; (d) which controls the intensity of voltage and current according to the vibration pattern by a control unit that regulates the voltage and direct current provided from the DC power supply and at the same time regulates the generation of high-output plasma through various types of vibration patterns (modulation & oscillation) It is about electrode deposition technology for forming electrodes exposed to the outside of electronic devices using HiPIMS deposition equipment, which includes a step. It is used to remove current and current from the outside in electronic devices such as smartphones, tablet PCs, laptops, and smartwatches. This is a technology for depositing the electrodes necessary to effectively receive radio waves.

Description

Electrode deposition method using HiPIMS}

The present invention relates to an electrode deposition method for depositing an electrode on a plastic coating. More specifically, it can be adjusted to a thin and precise deposition thickness, and has excellent adhesion between the plastic coating and the silver deposit, making it possible to use it in the fields of next-generation communication technology and healthcare. It relates to an electrode deposition method using HiPIMS that can form external electrodes required for devices.

Deposition technology is a core technology in modern electronics industries such as semiconductors, energy, circuits, and electronic communications. It largely consists of dry deposition processes such as physical vapor deposition (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plating, spraying, and immersion. It is done through a wet deposition process.

Since each deposition technology has different strengths and weaknesses depending on the silver deposit and plastic coating, it is very important to use the appropriate deposition technology for the silver deposit and plastic coating.

Previously, there was not much need to expose the antenna electrodes to the outside of the electronic device, but recently, as radio waves of extreme wavelengths are used in electronic communications such as 5G and 6G, there is a need to expose the antenna electrodes of the device to the outside to increase the radio wave reception rate. It's getting bigger.

In addition, in applications in the healthcare field, devices are required to have the ability to recognize data about the user and the user's surroundings by receiving electrical signals from the outside, and for this purpose, electrodes for the external sensor function of the device are inevitably needed. do.

Due to this situation, the need for technology to deposit electrodes made of silver deposits on plastic materials, a major material for electronic devices, is greatly increasing.

However, in the existing deposition technology, the plastic coating material has a problem of very poor adhesion to the silver deposition material.

In addition, the wet deposition process is not easy to precisely control thickness or achieve thin thickness. In order to reduce the amount of silver deposits used, as well as to achieve assembly steps and various colors, a thin thickness of several tens of nanometers and precise deposition are essential. am.

Accordingly, the dry deposition process, which allows for thin and precise deposition, is considered the most effective deposition technology for forming externally exposed electrodes.

However, while deposition technologies that require high energy and high temperature, such as Arc-PVD and CVD, can achieve high adhesion between the plastic coating and the silver deposit, they have the limitation of causing damage to the plastic coating.

Arc-PVD also has the problem that, depending on the shape of the plastic coating, a strong arc discharge may occur in the plastic coating, causing damage to the plastic coating.

On the other hand, low-energy deposition methods such as sputtering and evaporation deposition are unable to solve the problem of low adhesion between plastic coatings and silver deposits.

On the other hand, high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS; hereinafter referred to as HiPIMS) has a very high power density of about kW·cm-2 with short pulses (impulses) of tens of microseconds at a low duty cycle. It is a relatively recent technology.

The distinguishing feature of HiPIMS is that it uses pulses of several to hundreds of us and frequencies of 10 Hz to 10 KHz to create a high peak current of several Acm-2, resulting in the formation of high plasma.

The high plasma formed in this way accelerates the ionization of the target material, resulting in the deposition of a high density thin film. However, the high ionization rate of the target material not only increases the density of the deposited thin film, but can also play a major role in increasing the adhesion of the deposited thin film.

The ionized target material is attracted to the plastic object with stronger force by the power applied to the plastic object, which means that the target material collides with the plastic object with strong kinetic energy.

However, this feature of HiPIMS has the limitation of causing damage to plastic objects due to the high kinetic energy of the target material mentioned above.

Therefore, in all of the above-mentioned dry deposition methods, there is a need for the invention of a technology that can secure high adhesion between the plastic coated material and the silver deposited material and at the same time solve the low high temperature resistance of the plastic coated material.

KR 10-0719805 B1 KR 10-2002-0011931 A

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is capable of controlling the deposition thickness to a thin and precise thickness through thin film deposition using HiPIMS, and has excellent adhesion between the plastic coating material and the silver deposition material to provide external protection required for devices in the next-generation communication technology and healthcare fields. The purpose is to provide an electrode deposition method using HiPIMS that can form electrodes.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a deposition method of forming an electrode using HiPIMS in a vacuum chamber, in which silver deposits have kinetic energy through HiPIMS vacuum equipment including a vacuum chamber, and a strong plasma is applied to the target. Step (a) of forming a significantly larger number of silver ions than before and maximizing the kinetic energy of the silver ions by applying high power to the plastic object; Provided is an electrode deposition method using HiPIMS, which includes step (b) of realizing excellent adhesion between the plastic coating material and the silver deposit by minimizing thermal damage to the plastic coating material despite the collision of kinetic energy.

Here, in step (a), the HiPIMS vacuum equipment includes a vacuum chamber and a sputter device that injects gas into the vacuum chamber, and (-) power is applied to the target inside the vacuum chamber of the HiPIMS vacuum equipment, The vacuum chamber has a structure in which (+) power is grounded, and the HiPIMS vacuum equipment is not used alone, but includes step (c) of providing direct current power applied from an external direct current power supply; (d) which controls the intensity of voltage and current according to the vibration pattern by a control unit that regulates the voltage and direct current provided from the DC power supply and at the same time regulates the generation of high-output plasma through various types of vibration patterns (modulation & oscillation) It is characterized by including steps.

At this time, the control conditions of the control unit that generates plasma near the target from the DC power supply are pulse peak power in the range of 0.2 ~ 1.0 kW, voltage in the range of 200 ~ 400V, current in the range of 1A ~ 2.5A, and pulse length is in the range of 40 to 200 ㎲, the frequency is in the range of 300 to 500 Hz, and a power of 100 to 200 V is applied to the deposition substrate.

Meanwhile, during deposition in step (a), the atmospheric pressure inside the vacuum chamber is in the range of 0.1 × 10 ^-3 to 1.0 × 10 ^-3 torr by injection of inert gas and a vacuum pump. As a standard, the temperature is characterized as having a range of 50 to 100°C.

By providing the present invention configured as described above, it is possible to form an electrode by depositing a silver deposit on a plastic coating, and maintain excellent adhesion between the plastic coating and the silver deposit under optimal deposition conditions, while at the same time reducing the plastic coating, which was a existing limitation. It has the effect of preventing deterioration.

1 is a flowchart showing an electrode deposition method using HiPIMS according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the electrode deposition method using HiPIMS of the present invention can propose a deposition method of forming an electrode using HiPIMS in a vacuum chamber through each step.

First of all, the existing method for solving the low adhesion between the plastic coating material and the silver deposit mentioned below does not provide effective results due to thermal or physical damage to the plastic coating material during the deposition process, and an alternative solution can be proposed accordingly. You can.

In other words, the existing deposition technology ensures high adhesion for silver deposits that strongly collide with plastic substrates, but can prevent strong damage to relatively weak plastic substrates.

In solving this problem, it is significant in that it not only suggests the possibility of effective use of HiPIMS vacuum equipment, but also suggests optimal deposition conditions to solve the problem more specifically.

HiPIMS vacuum equipment including a vacuum chamber allows the silver deposit to have kinetic energy, forming a strong plasma on the target to form a much larger number of silver ions than before, and applying high power to the plastic object to produce silver ions. Step (a) (S100) that maximizes kinetic energy can be provided.

Meanwhile, step (b) (S200) may be included to achieve excellent adhesion between the plastic coating material and the silver deposit by minimizing thermal damage to the plastic coating material despite the collision of kinetic energy (S200).

At this time, in step (a) (S100), the HiPIMS vacuum equipment includes a vacuum chamber and a sputter device that injects gas into the vacuum chamber, and the target inside the vacuum chamber of the HiPIMS vacuum equipment is supplied with (-) power. The vacuum chamber has a structure in which (+) power is grounded, and the HiPIMS vacuum equipment is not used alone, but may include step (c) (S300) of providing DC power applied from an external DC power source. .

In addition, the intensity of voltage and current according to the vibration pattern is controlled by a control unit that regulates the voltage and direct current provided from the DC power supply and at the same time regulates the generation of high-output plasma through various types of vibration patterns (modulation & oscillation). It may include step d) (S400).

At this time, the control conditions of the control unit that generates plasma near the target from the DC power supply are pulse peak power in the range of 0.2 ~ 1.0 kW, voltage in the range of 200 ~ 400V, current in the range of 1A ~ 2.5A, and pulse length is in the range of 40 to 200 ㎲, the frequency is in the range of 300 to 500 Hz, and it is preferable that a power of 100 to 200 V is applied to the deposition substrate.

Meanwhile, during deposition in step (a) (S100), the air pressure inside the vacuum chamber is in the range of 0.1 × 10 ^-3 to 1.0 × 10 ^-3 torr torr by injection of inert gas and a vacuum pump. Based on the temperature measuring instrument used, the temperature ranges from 50 to 100℃.

In addition, the plastic coating material provided as an electrode to the HiPIMS vacuum equipment is preferably made of any one of plastic, polymer, and natural fiber.

The present invention provides pulsed power to the target through an external direct current power supply when depositing silver deposits on a plastic substrate using HiPIMS vacuum equipment, and at the same time, when negative (-) power is applied to the plastic substrate, power and pulse conditions are provided. can do.

The plasma formed on the target through the direct current power supply of the HiPIMS vacuum equipment can rapidly increase the concentration of silver ions in which silver deposits are easily ionized.

As such, the high ionization rate of silver is strongly attracted to the power applied to the plastic object, causing a very strong collision with the plastic object compared to the neutral silver deposit, thereby providing high adhesion between the plastic object and the silver deposit.

Meanwhile, the performance of the deposition method of the present invention was verified through experiments as follows.

This is a process of forming a silver (Ag) electrode with silver (Ag) as a target on a substrate made of a composite of ABS and PC as a plastic coating material. The plastic coating material is placed in a vacuum chamber and a vacuum is provided through a vacuum pump up to 5.0×10 ^-5 . And when the set level of vacuum is created, nitrogen or argon gas is supplied to the vacuum chamber, and the vacuum pump continuously provides pressure as follows.

The flow rate of nitrogen gas is adjusted so that the atmospheric pressure in the vacuum chamber reaches 1.0×10 ^-3 . Once the deposition pressure of 1.0×10 ^-3 is reached, the temperature in the vacuum chamber is maintained at 80°C. At this time, the temperature provides a standard measured using a thermocouple present in the vacuum chamber.

When the set atmospheric pressure and temperature are reached, the external DC power supply is activated and the pulse frequency, pulse length, and pulse peak power are adjusted to the set values through the control unit including the software of the connected computer.

Test A - Deposition conditions are shown in Table 1 below.

[Table 1]

When the set pulse frequency, pulse length, and pulse peak power remain stable, turn on the power to the plastic object and remove the target shield that was blocking the target.

When the target shield is removed, the target is quickly ionized and collides with the plastic object with kinetic energy due to the power applied to the plastic object.

[Figure 1]

Test B - Deposition conditions are shown in Table 2 below.

[Table 2]

[Figure 2]

[Figure 3]

As a result of the adhesion test, it can be confirmed that it is Classification 4B level in the cross-cut test.

As can be seen through the above explanation and experiment, this is about electrode deposition technology using HiPIMS deposition technology, and it is possible to form electrodes by depositing silver deposits on plastic coated materials.

Existing electrode deposition technology has not been able to solve the problem of low adhesion between the plastic coating material and the silver deposit mentioned above, or has had limitations in its application due to the low heat resistance of the plastic coating material, and existing electrode deposition technologies such as Arc-PVD have been limited in application. The technology had difficulties in applying it to plastic coating materials such as plastic due to the problem of deterioration of the plastic coating material due to high temperature caused by too high kinetic energy, but using HiPIMS equipment, plastic coating materials and silver deposits were developed under the optimal deposition conditions described in the claims. The significance of the invention is that it developed a deposition technology that can prevent deterioration of plastic materials, which was a existing limitation, while maintaining excellent adhesion between materials.

Therefore, by providing the present invention configured as described above, it is possible to form an electrode by depositing a silver deposit on a plastic coating material, and maintain excellent adhesion between the plastic coating material and the silver deposition material under optimal deposition conditions, while at the same time reducing the existing limitations. It has the effect of preventing deterioration of plastic materials.

The terms and words used in the specification and claims described above should not be construed as limited to their usual or dictionary meanings, and the inventor has appropriately used the concept of terms to explain his invention in the best way. It must be interpreted as meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that it can be defined clearly.

Therefore, the configuration shown in the drawings and examples described in this specification is only one of the most preferred embodiments of the present invention, and does not represent the entire technical idea of the present invention, so they cannot be replaced at the time of filing the present application. It should be understood that various equivalents and variations may exist.

Claims (1)

HiPIMS vacuum includes a vacuum chamber with a pressure range of ^4.0 Through the equipment, plasma is formed on the silver target of the plastic coated object so that the silver deposit made of silver (Ag) has kinetic energy, forming a large number of silver ions, and applying power to the plastic coated object to increase the kinetic energy of the silver ions ( a) step (S100);
In step (a) (S100), the HiPIMS vacuum equipment includes a vacuum chamber and a sputter device for injecting gas into the vacuum chamber, and the silver target of the plastic object is placed inside the vacuum chamber of the HiPIMS vacuum equipment. (-) power is applied and the (+) power is grounded in the vacuum chamber. HiPIMS vacuum equipment is not used alone, but provides DC power applied from an external DC power source (S300). and;
Step (b) (S200) of implementing adhesion between the plastic coating and the silver deposit through collision of kinetic energy;
Step (d) of controlling the intensity of voltage and current according to the vibration pattern by a control unit that adjusts the voltage and direct current provided from the DC power supply and at the same time controls the generation of high-output plasma through various types of vibration patterns (S400) Includes,
From the DC power supply to the silver (Ag) target of the plastic coated object, the target diameter is 300mm, the target thickness is 50mm, the HiPIMS pulse frequency is 400Hz, the HiPIMS pulse length is 100㎲ec, the pulse peak power is 1.0kW, the bias of the coated object is -150V, An electrode deposition method using HiPIMS, characterized in that the deposition time is 30 s, the atmospheric pressure during deposition is 4.0×10 ^-3 torr, and the average temperature in the chamber is 80°C.