JP3131252B2 - Vacuum equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for treating a surface of a substrate or the like in a vacuum chamber provided with a vacuum window having a window surface oriented in a horizontal direction. Vacuum equipment where substances are scattered, more specifically, molecular beam epitaxy equipment that forms a thin film on a substrate using molecular flow and plasma generated by microwaves and electromagnets, and the thin film on the substrate is used by using the plasma A vacuum plate is provided in front of a vacuum window provided in each of the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) devices for etching and conversely depositing a thin film so that it can be easily replaced from outside the device as necessary. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A molecular beam epitaxy apparatus and an ECR apparatus are vacuum apparatuses that use a vacuum to process a substrate. FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing an example of a conventional molecular beam epitaxy apparatus. Molecular beam cell 8 in growth chamber (vacuum chamber) 14
The substrates a, 8b, and 8c are arranged, and the processing substrate 9 is transported to a central portion thereof by a transport mechanism (not shown). Growth room 14
Is provided with a vacuum window 3 on the side wall of the. The growth chamber 14 is set in a high vacuum state, and a molecular flow (vapor) is applied to the substrate from the molecular beam cells 8a, 8b and 8c to grow a thin film crystal on the substrate 9. The vacuum window of the growth chamber 14 is used for viewing the position of the substrate 9 in a vacuum from outside the growth chamber during the substrate transfer operation, and for measuring the temperature of the substrate through the vacuum window with an infrared radiation thermometer. Used for purposes.

In the growth chamber of the molecular beam epitaxy apparatus, when a thin film is formed on the substrate 9, the evaporated material is evaporated, and the evaporated material is scattered in all directions. Therefore, when the transparent glass is attached to the vacuum window 3 or the vacuum side of the vacuum window 3, the transparent glass becomes more cloudy and the inside of the growth chamber can be seen each time the number of times of evaporation of the evaporation material increases. There was a disadvantage that it disappeared.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a conventional ECR device. An electromagnet 15 for applying a magnetic field is arranged around the ECR chamber 7, and a grid 8 is provided at an outlet of the ECR chamber 7, that is, at a boundary portion with the processing chamber 10. A vacuum window 3 is provided on a side wall of the ECR chamber 7 opposite to the grid 8, and a microwave waveguide 11 to which a microwave power supply 12 is coupled is connected to one end of the vacuum window 3. Processing room 1
The substrate is conveyed to the center of 0 by a conveyance mechanism (not shown). A gas is introduced into the ECR chamber 7 from a gas supply system (not shown), and plasma is generated by the microwave introduced from the vacuum window 3 and the electromagnet 15.
The thin film on the surface of the substrate 13 in the processing chamber can be etched by drawing it from the chamber 7 to the processing chamber 10. Further, a certain thin film can be deposited on the surface of the substrate 13. In the case of etching, a grid electrode 7 is provided at the exit of the ECR chamber to extract ions in plasma, as in this example. When depositing a film, the grid electrode is not attached,
The ions are extracted using the gradient of the intensity of the magnetic field lines by the electromagnet 15. In any case, gas ions in the plasma generated in the ECR chamber 7 have kinetic energy. In particular, in the case of etching, the kinetic energy of ions is several hundreds eV, and the substrate is processed by these ions.

In this ECR apparatus, ions have high kinetic energy, so that not only the target substrate is etched, but also all parts (E
The wall surface of the CR room and the grid electrode) are etched, and the etched metal material scatters throughout the room. For this reason, the etched metal material is deposited on the microwave introduction vacuum window 3, and the microwave is reflected or absorbed by the thin film deposited on the surface of the window. as a result,
The amount of microwaves introduced into the ECR chamber 7 decreases, the ion density decreases, and the etching rate of the substrate decreases in the etching process. In the worst case, there are drawbacks such as the disappearance of the plasma and the breakage of the microwave introduction window.

[0006]

In the molecular beam epitaxy apparatus and the ECR apparatus configured as described above, the growth chamber is exposed to the atmosphere for a short period of time so as to remove the fogging of the vacuum window. Had to be replaced. An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks. One or more transparent glasses are provided on the inside of a vacuum window, and when the transparent glass on the top is clouded, each time the transparent glass becomes cloudy, the outside of the apparatus is required. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum apparatus in which the period of replacement of the vacuum window is extended by operating and retracting the transparent glass from the vacuum window surface.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a vacuum apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus for treating a surface of a substrate or the like in a vacuum chamber provided with a vacuum window whose window surface is oriented in a horizontal direction. In a vacuum apparatus in which an evaporating material or an etched substance is scattered during the processing, at least one transparent glass covering the entirety of the vacuum window is disposed on the vacuum chamber surface of the vacuum window, and the transparent glass is Two holes are provided at a fixed distance in a lower portion deviated from the vacuum window, a fixed rod and a movable rod are inserted into the two holes, and the other end of the fixed rod is attached to a wall of the vacuum chamber, The other end of the movable rod is connected to a movable mechanism that can be operated from outside the vacuum device, and by operating the movable mechanism, the movable rod is moved by the thickness of the glass plate, and the glass plate group is moved one by one by the vacuum. Structured so that it can be evacuated from the window And Aru.

According to such a configuration, whenever a film adheres to the glass superimposed on the uppermost layer and the transparency becomes poor, the dirty glass plate can be removed from the apparatus by simply operating the apparatus from the outside each time. It can be removed from the surface, and the visibility into the vacuum chamber can be kept good for a long time. This allows
The processing operation can be performed for a long time without exposing the vacuum chamber to the atmosphere in a short time.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing an embodiment of a vacuum apparatus according to the present invention, which is an example of a molecular beam epitaxy apparatus. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. Inside the vacuum window 3 of the growth chamber 14, the stacked glass plate groups 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d,... The material of the glass plate is, for example, quartz. The vaporized material flies from the direction of the molecular beam cells 8a, 8b and 8c and adheres to the glass plate 1a which is superimposed on the top of the glass plate group. By repeating the process many times, the film attached to the glass plate 1a becomes thicker, and the inside of the growth chamber 14 cannot be seen through the vacuum window 3 from outside the apparatus. When the movable mechanism 6 connected to the movable bar 5 holding the glass plate groups 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d,... Is pulled in the direction of the arrow, the movable bar 5 moves by the thickness of one glass plate. Then, the glass plate 1a rotates by its own weight and comes off the surface of the vacuum window 3.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing details around the glass plate group. The glass plate groups 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d,... Have a larger diameter than the vacuum window 3 and can cover the entire vacuum window 3. Glass plate group 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d
.. Are spaced apart from each other at regular intervals in the vicinity of the outer periphery not facing the vacuum window 3, that is, at the position facing the side wall of the growth chamber 14.
2b is provided, and a fixing rod 4 having one end fixed to the side wall of the growth chamber 14 is inserted into the hole 2b. A movable rod 5 slidable in a direction perpendicular to the wall of the growth chamber 14 and having the other end protruding outside the growth chamber 14 is inserted into the hole 2a. The movable mechanism 6 is connected to the other end of the movable bar 6. The movable mechanism 6 has such a structure that the movable bar 5 can be moved by an amount corresponding to the thickness of the glass plate. Initially, all the glass plates are in a stacked state as shown in FIG. When the film adheres to the first glass plate 1a and it becomes difficult to see through the inside of the growth chamber, the movable shaft 6
Is operated in the direction of the arrow.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the vicinity of the glass plate group for explaining the operation at the time of operating the movable bar. When the movable shaft 6 is operated, the movable rod 5 is pulled out of the hole 2a of the first glass plate 1a, and the glass plate 1a rotates counterclockwise by gravity about the fixed rod 4 inserted into the hole 2b. The rotated glass plate 1a is held by the fixing rod 4 at a position indicated by an imaginary line (two-dot chain line), and comes off the position opposite the vacuum window 3. The glass plate group of glass plates 1b, 1c, 1d... Faces the surface of the vacuum window 3 so that the inside of the growth chamber 14 can be seen well. If the films adhere to the glass plates 1b, 1c, 1d, etc., the respective glass plates can be similarly removed from the surface of the vacuum window 3. Any number of glass plates may be stacked as long as they do not interfere with other mechanisms in the vacuum.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view showing another embodiment of the present invention, which is an example of an ECR apparatus. You. In the figure, portions denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 6 are the same functional portions, and thus description thereof will be omitted. On the ECR room 7 side of the vacuum window 3, the same glass plate group as the glass plates 1b, 1c, 1d... Shown in FIG. 2 is provided, and the same operation is possible. Therefore, even if the substance scattered by the etching adheres to the glass plate and the etching rate is reduced, the glass plate to which the substance adheres is removed from the vacuum window 3.
If it is removed from the surface, processing can be performed at the original etching rate.

[0013]

As described above, the present invention relates to an apparatus for treating a surface of a substrate or the like in a vacuum chamber having a vacuum window whose window surface is oriented in a horizontal direction. Alternatively, in a vacuum device in which an etched substance is scattered, one or more glass plates are provided on the vacuum chamber side of a vacuum window, and when an evaporation material or an etched metal adheres to the glass plate, the glass plate is removed. Since the film can be easily removed from the outside of the vacuum window from the surface of the vacuum window, even if a film adheres to the glass plate facing the vacuum window, the transparency of the vacuum window can be reduced without exposing the inside of the vacuum device to the atmosphere in a short period of time. It can be kept good for a long time. Therefore, the substrate processing of the molecular beam epitaxy apparatus and the ECR apparatus can be performed continuously for a long period of time, and the period for replacing the vacuum window can be lengthened.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing an embodiment of a vacuum apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing details in the vicinity of a glass plate group.

FIG. 3 is a side view for explaining the operation of the glass plates in the glass plate group.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the vacuum apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing an example of a conventional molecular beam epitaxy apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a schematic front view showing an example of a conventional ECR device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Glass plate group 2 ... Hole 3 ... Vacuum window 4 ... Fixed bar 5 ... Movable bar 6 ... Movable mechanism 7 ... ECR room 8 ... Grid 9 ... Electromagnet 10 ... Processing room 11 ... Microwave waveguide 12 ... Microwave power supply 13 …substrate

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) C30B 23/00-23/08 C30B 25/00-25/22 C23C 14/00-14/58 C23C 16/00-16 / 56 H01L 21/203 H01L 21/205 H01L 21/302 H01L 21/31

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An apparatus for treating a surface of a substrate or the like in a vacuum chamber having a vacuum window whose window surface is oriented in a horizontal direction,
In the vacuum device in which the evaporated material or the etched material is scattered during the processing, the vacuum chamber surface of the vacuum window,
At least one transparent glass covering the entirety of the vacuum window is superposed and arranged, and two holes are provided at a fixed distance in a lower portion of the transparent glass deviating from the vacuum window and fixed to the two holes, respectively. By inserting a rod and a movable rod, attaching the other end of the fixed rod to the wall of the vacuum chamber, connecting the other end of the movable rod to a movable mechanism that can be operated from outside the vacuum device, and operating the movable mechanism, Move the movable rod by the thickness of the glass plate,
A vacuum apparatus characterized in that a group of glass plates can be retracted one by one from the vacuum window surface. 2. The vacuum apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transparent glass is quartz glass.