JP6155490B2 - Deposition equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus for forming a functional thin film on a surface of a substrate by a film forming technique such as arc ion plating, sputtering, or plasma CVD.

  In recent years, various mechanical parts such as automobile parts and sliding parts, various tools, molding dies, and medical articles and members, wear resistance, slidability, chemical stability, optical In order to improve properties such as characteristics and further improve the performance required for these articles and members, various film forming techniques for forming a thin film on the surfaces of the articles and members are widely used.

  FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a conventional arc ion plating film forming apparatus, and FIG. 10 is a plan view, (b) front view, and (c) side view. As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, this film forming apparatus includes a vacuum chamber 21 that houses a substrate W, a rotary table 7 that holds the substrate W and rotates within the vacuum chamber 21, an arc power source, and a bias power source. And a power source / control panel 8 for controlling the entire apparatus.

  A plurality of film forming materials (arc evaporation sources) 4 are attached to two opposing side walls among the four side walls of the vacuum chamber 21. A vacuum pump 5 that evacuates the inside of the vacuum chamber 21 is connected to one of the remaining two side walls, and the other is a door that is opened and closed when the substrate W is carried into and out of the vacuum chamber 21. 22 is provided.

  When performing a film forming process (coating process) using this film forming apparatus, first, the cleaned substrate W is mounted on the turntable 7. Thereafter, the door 22 is opened, and the rotary table 7 is carried into the vacuum chamber 21 using the carriage 6.

  Next, after the door 22 is closed, the power source / control panel 8 is operated to perform evacuation in the vacuum chamber 21, heating, cleaning of the substrate W (bombarding), film forming process, cooling, and opening to the atmosphere. Are automatically performed sequentially. Thereby, a thin film is formed on the surface of the substrate W.

  Thereafter, the door 22 of the vacuum chamber 21 opened to the atmosphere is opened, and the rotary table 7 on which the base material W on which the thin film is formed is mounted is carried out from the vacuum chamber 21 using the carriage 6. Thereby, a series of film forming processes is completed. In addition, when performing the film-forming process with respect to many base materials W continuously, after carrying out the rotary table 7, maintenance, such as cleaning in the vacuum chamber 21, is performed as needed, and the above-described series of The film formation process is repeated.

  Upon completion of the film formation process, the temperature in the vacuum chamber 21 during the film formation process is usually heated to about 450 ° C., depending on the type of the substrate W and the thin film to be formed. After that, it is necessary to release the atmosphere after a cooling process is performed and, for example, it is cooled to about 180 ° C.

  However, when the film forming process is performed by the above operation, there are the following problems.

  That is, the total weight of the base material W and the turntable 7 after the film forming process is large, for example, about 300 kg, and a large amount of heat is stored in both the base material W and the turntable 7 even after being cooled to 180 ° C. Yes.

  Further, a film having high hardness is deposited on the surface of the substrate W and the turntable 7, and a film having high internal stress is formed in a thick film state.

  Under such circumstances, when the door 22 of the vacuum chamber 21 is opened, the outside air flows into the vacuum chamber 21 and the surfaces of the base material W and the turntable 7 are rapidly cooled, and the film is missing. Become dust.

  On the other hand, as described above, the temperature in the vacuum chamber 21 is still about 180 ° C., which is a sufficiently high temperature that the air flowing into the vacuum chamber 21 is heated. Occur. Then, the dust is diffused into the space outside the vacuum chamber 21 by the ascending current, and the indoor environment in which the film forming apparatus is installed is deteriorated to an environment with much dust.

  And the dust diffused in the room where the film forming apparatus is installed enters the power source / control panel 8 of the film forming apparatus and causes a failure of the power source, or the surface of the substrate W to be subsequently subjected to film forming processing. May cause pinhole defects on the surface of the film.

  In addition, the diffused dust pollutes the room, increasing the frequency of cleaning, and has the problem that the cleaning itself is troublesome, and has also caused a reduction in work efficiency.

  Therefore, in order to solve such dust diffusion, the following measures have been conventionally employed.

  For example, the base material W and the turntable 7 carried out from the vacuum chamber 21 are quickly moved to an isolated space such as a booth curtain or another room.

  However, when this method is adopted, it is necessary to provide an isolation room separately from the room where the film deposition system is installed, so it is necessary to secure the site area and change the design of the work site. become. Moreover, even if the base material W can be quickly isolated, it is difficult to reduce dust diffusing from the vacuum chamber 21 due to the rising airflow generated at the moment when the door 22 is opened.

  On the other hand, there is a method in which the substrate is unloaded after waiting for the substrate W or the rotary table 7 to be cooled to about room temperature at which no ascending airflow is generated. It takes a long time to cool down to this point, during which time the next film formation process cannot be performed, leading to a reduction in productivity.

  Further, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique using an in-line film forming apparatus in which a plurality of vacuum chambers are connected. FIG. 11 is a plan view showing an example of an in-line type film forming apparatus in which a plurality of vacuum chambers are connected. In this film forming apparatus, a plurality of vacuum chambers 31 are connected, and each of them is used as a loading chamber 31a, a preheating chamber 31b, a film forming chamber 31c, and an unloading chamber 31d. The film forming process is performed by carrying the film from the left side to the right side in the figure by one-way.

  In this case, the turntable 37 heated in the film formation chamber 31c can be held in the next carry-out chamber 31d until it is cooled to near room temperature. In the meantime, since the next turntable can be carried in and the film forming process can be performed in the film forming chamber 31c, it is possible to prevent the diffusion of dust into the chamber without reducing the productivity.

  However, since such an in-line type film forming apparatus has a complicated structure in which a plurality of expensive vacuum chambers are connected, the equipment cost is also greatly increased.

JP 2001-254171 A

  In the above, the arc type ion plating film forming apparatus is taken as an example of the film forming apparatus, and the problems in the conventional film forming apparatus have been described. However, such problems are caused by the sputtering film forming apparatus and the plasma CVD film forming apparatus. It was also a problem in general film forming apparatuses that use vacuum to form a film on the surface of a substrate.

  Therefore, the present invention appropriately prevents the diffusion of dust into the installed room without securing the site area, changing the design of the work site, increasing the equipment cost, and reducing the productivity. It is an object of the present invention to provide a film formation apparatus that can perform film formation while suppressing the film formation.

  As a result of earnestly examining the fundamental solution to the problem of dust diffusion when the vacuum chamber is opened, the present inventor replaces the solution having the advantages and disadvantages as described above, the present inventor has completed the present invention. .

That is, the invention described in claim 1
A film forming apparatus for performing a film forming process on the surface of a substrate housed in the vacuum chamber using an independent vacuum chamber,
The vacuum chamber is provided with a loading door for carrying the base material before the film forming process into the vacuum chamber, and a carrying door for carrying the base material after the film forming process out from the vacuum chamber,
The carry-in door is disposed in one of two spaces separated from each other by a partition provided outside the vacuum chamber, and the carry-out door is disposed in the other space. Is a film forming apparatus.

  In the vacuum chamber of the conventional film forming apparatus, as described above, one door is configured to serve as both a loading door and a loading door.

  On the other hand, in the invention of this claim, a door for carrying in the base material before the film forming process into the vacuum chamber, and a door for carrying out the base material after the film forming process from the vacuum chamber; Are provided separately. These doors are arranged in two spaces separated from each other by walls and partitions.

  When performing film forming processing using such a film forming apparatus, when carrying out the substrate from the carry-out door, if the carry-in door is kept closed, Similarly, even if dust without a film is generated and an upward air flow is generated by the air flowing into the vacuum chamber, most of the diffusion of the dust can be kept in the space on the door side for carrying out. Even when the loading door is opened, if the unloading door is closed, the dust diffused in the unloading door side space flows back and diffuses into the loading door side space. There is nothing.

  As described above, the door-side space for loading and the door-side space for unloading are two spaces separated from each other by walls, partitions, etc., so that most of the dust diffusion is carried out. Thus, the space on the door side for loading can be kept clean.

  As a result, failure caused by dust entering the power supply / control panel of the equipment by placing the power supply / control panel and the base material before film formation in the space on the door side for carrying in, where dust is prevented from diffusing In addition, it is possible to appropriately prevent the occurrence of pinhole defects caused by adhering to the base material before film formation.

  Further, since only one space on the door side for unloading is mainly contaminated, it is possible to improve the work efficiency by reducing the cleaning frequency and simplifying the cleaning.

  In the invention of this claim, it is not necessary to provide a separate isolation chamber at a position away from the apparatus, and it is not necessary to introduce complicated and expensive equipment for connecting a plurality of conventional vacuum chambers. Can be suppressed at low cost.

  In use, these doors do not need to be fixed to either carry-in or carry-out, and can be switched between carry-in and carry-out as necessary, and a film forming apparatus is arranged. Since the sizes of the two spaces can be freely set, the degree of freedom in the layout of the apparatus can be expanded by appropriately changing these settings.

  In the invention of this claim, it is not necessary to place the substrate in the vacuum chamber until the substrate is cooled to room temperature after the film formation process is completed, and thus high productivity can be maintained.

The invention described in claim 2
The film forming process is an arc type ion plating method, a sputtering method, a plasma CVD method, or a film forming process using a combination of two or more of these methods,
The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate during the film forming process is heated to a temperature higher than room temperature.

  When the film forming process is performed using each of the film forming methods described above, the formed film has a relatively large internal stress, the inside of the vacuum chamber becomes high temperature, and dust is likely to be diffused by the rising airflow. For this reason, the remarkable effect can be acquired by applying this invention to these film-forming methods.

The invention according to claim 3
The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a booth formed by surrounding a periphery of the unloading door with a partition is provided outside the unloading door. is there.

  By surrounding the periphery of the unloading door with a partition, the dust diffusing from the unloading door can be retained in the booth, and the diffusion to a wide space can be reliably suppressed. Moreover, since dust cleaning is only required in the booth, cleaning can be simplified, and a reduction in productivity can be suppressed.

The invention according to claim 4
The film forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the booth is provided with a fan that pushes air in the booth to a space different from a space in which the film forming apparatus is disposed.

  As described above, the booth has a role of retaining the diffusing dust in the booth, and dust tends to accumulate inside. When an operator enters or exits the booth where dust is collected, the dust is collected in the booth, and the space on the door side for loading, which is required to maintain a clean state, that is, the space where the film forming apparatus is arranged. May spread.

  However, in the present invention, a fan is provided to push the air in the booth to a space (for example, an atmospheric space outside the factory) that is different from the space in which the film forming apparatus is disposed. It is possible to prevent dust from accumulating more than necessary, and even if an operator enters and exits the booth, it is possible to reduce the possibility that dust will diffuse into the space on the door side for loading.

The invention described in claim 5
The booth is equipped with a fan that pushes the air in the booth to the outside of the booth,
5. The film forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a dust filter that adsorbs dust contained in air pushed out from the booth is attached to the fan.

  By attaching the dust filter to the fan, the dust contained in the air in the booth can be adsorbed by the dust filter and the clean air can be pushed out of the booth. For this reason, it becomes possible to push the air in the booth into the space where the film forming apparatus which is required to be clean is arranged, and the degree of freedom of the apparatus layout can be further expanded.

The invention described in claim 6
6. The film forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein an amount of air that pushes out air in the booth of the fan is 5 m ³ / min or more.

The air volume of the fan necessary to push the air in the booth to the outside is set as appropriate according to the size of the booth. Generally, if it is 5 m ³ / min or more, the amount of dust diffused in the booth On the other hand, the air volume can be increased sufficiently. Thereby, the dust diffused in the booth can be removed in a short time. Further, when the air volume is 5 m ³ / min or more, the air flow toward the fan can be appropriately formed, and the dust is sufficiently suppressed from being diffused into the space on the door side for carrying in from the entrance / exit of the booth or the gap. be able to.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately diffuse dust into the installed room without securing site area, changing the design of the work site, increasing the equipment cost, and reducing the productivity. It is possible to provide a film formation apparatus that can suppress and perform a film formation process.

It is a perspective view explaining the film-forming apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the film-forming apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view explaining the film-forming apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the film-forming apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view explaining the film-forming apparatus which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the film-forming apparatus which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. In an Example, it is a figure which shows the result of having measured the number of particles in the room where the film-forming apparatus was installed. In a comparative example, it is a figure which shows the result of having measured the number of particles in the room where the film-forming apparatus was installed. It is a perspective view explaining the conventional common film-forming apparatus. It is a figure explaining the conventional common film-forming apparatus. It is a top view explaining an example of an in-line type film forming apparatus.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on embodiments.

1. First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining a film forming apparatus of the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a (a) plan view and (b) a front view for explaining the film forming apparatus of the present embodiment. (C) It is a side view. In FIGS. 1 and 2, W is a base material. 1 is a vacuum chamber, 4 is a film forming material such as an arc evaporation source or a sputtering source, 5 is a vacuum pump, 6 is a carriage, 7 is a substrate holder on which a substrate W is mounted. The reference numeral 8 denotes a rotating table. Reference numeral 8 denotes a power source / control panel. These configurations are basically the same as those of a conventional film forming apparatus.

  However, the door provided in the vacuum chamber is conventionally a single door in order to simplify the mechanism portion, whereas in the film forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, FIGS. As shown in FIG. 3, the door 2 for carrying in the substrate W before the film forming process into the vacuum chamber 1 and the substrate for carrying out the substrate W after carrying out the film forming process from the vacuum chamber 1 to the vacuum chamber 1. The door 3 is provided, the door 2 for carrying in is disposed in one of the two spaces separated by a wall or a partition, and the door 3 for carrying out is disposed in the other space. This is different from the conventional film forming apparatus. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the display of the partition of these two spaces is omitted to show the overall image of the film forming apparatus.

  In the case of this film forming apparatus, the carrying-out door 3 is opened while the carrying-in door 2 is closed after the film-forming process, and the substrate W after film-forming is carried out from the vacuum chamber 1. The diffusing dust can be kept in the space on the door 3 side for carry-out, and the space on the door 2 side for carry-in can be kept clean.

  As a result, by placing the power supply / control panel 8 and the substrate W before film formation in the space on the loading door 2 side where dust is prevented from spreading, dust enters the power supply / control panel 8 of the device. It is possible to appropriately prevent a failure due to the occurrence of a pinhole and a pinhole defect caused by adhering to the substrate W before film formation. Moreover, since the diffusion of dust is kept in the space on the side of the door 3 for carrying out, the cleaning frequency can be reduced and the cleaning can be simplified, and the working efficiency can be improved.

  Further, the doors 2 and 3 do not need to be fixed to either carry-in or carry-out in use, and can be switched between carry-in and carry-out as necessary. Since the size of the two spaces to be arranged can be freely set, the degree of freedom of the layout of the apparatus can be expanded by appropriately changing these settings.

2. Second Embodiment The film forming apparatus according to the present embodiment has the basic structure of the film forming apparatus according to the first embodiment, but around the door for unloading on the outside of the door for unloading. This is different from the film forming apparatus according to the first embodiment in that a booth formed by surrounding the wall with a partition is provided.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the film forming apparatus of the present embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a (a) plan view, (b) front view, and (c) side view illustrating the film forming apparatus of the present embodiment. It is. 3 and 4, 11 is a booth, 12 is a partition, and 13 is an entrance to the booth.

  In this embodiment, a booth 11 formed by surrounding the periphery with a partition 12 is provided outside the door 3 for carrying out the film forming apparatus. In this way, by surrounding the periphery of the unloading door 3 with the partition 12, the dust diffusing from the unloading door 3 can be retained in the booth 11 to prevent diffusion to a wide space. In FIG. 3 and FIG. 4A, the partition 12 serving as the ceiling of the booth 11 is omitted in order to illustrate the inside of the booth 11.

  In addition, the booth 11 is provided with an openable / closable entrance 13 so that an operator can enter and exit the booth 11 for maintenance, carrying out the base material W, taking out the cooled base material W from the entrance 13. Except for the above, there is no air flow between the space in the booth 11 and the space on the loading door 2 side where the base material W and the power source / control panel 8 before film formation are arranged.

  When the film forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is used, with the door 2 for loading closed, an entrance 13 is opened, an operator enters the booth 11, and after the entrance 13 is closed, the vacuum chamber 1 is unloaded. The door 3 is opened and the base material W is carried out. In this way, air is not circulated between the space on the unloading door 3 side (in the booth 11) and the space on the unloading door 2 side, and the unloading door 3 is opened and the vacuum chamber 1 is opened. By carrying out the base material W, dust diffusing from the door 3 for carrying out can be kept in the booth 11, and appropriately preventing the dust from diffusing into a wide space on the door 2 side for carrying in. it can.

  Note that the size of the booth 11 is not particularly limited, but the booth 11 can be cooled by carrying out the film-formed base material W from the vacuum chamber even when continuous film-forming processes are performed. It is sufficient if space can be secured.

  In addition, even when the booth 11 is provided after introducing the film forming apparatus provided with the door for carrying in and the door for carrying out, the diffusion of dust can be appropriately suppressed, but the facility cost is reduced. From the viewpoint of improving convenience, it is more preferable to design the surrounding structure with the booth 11 in mind.

3. Third Embodiment The film forming apparatus according to the present embodiment has the same structure as the film forming apparatus according to the second embodiment, but the fan pushes the air in the booth to the outside of the booth. Is different from the film forming apparatus according to the second embodiment.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the film forming apparatus of the present embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a (a) plan view, (b) front view, and (c) side view illustrating the film forming apparatus of the present embodiment. It is.

  In the film forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, the fan 15 is installed on the ceiling portion of the booth 11. The fan 15 pushes the air in the boot 11 into a space different from the space where the film forming apparatus is disposed. At this time, if a dust filter such as a high efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA filter) is attached to the intake port of the fan 15, the dust contained in the air pushed out from the booth 11 is absorbed by the dust filter by the fan 15. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, air can be pushed out even to the space on the loading door 2 side where the film forming apparatus is arranged.

  Moreover, in the film forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, it is preferable that a gap of an appropriate size is provided below the partition 12 and the entrance / exit 13 forming the booth 11. Thereby, air flows into the booth 11 from the outside through the lower gap, and an airflow toward the fan 15 installed on the ceiling is formed. Due to this airflow, the dust diffused in the booth 11 can be appropriately fed into the fan 15.

  According to the present embodiment, the dust in the booth 11 is adsorbed by the dust filter, so that the dust can be prevented from being accumulated more than necessary in the booth 11. For this reason, when an operator goes in and out of the booth 11, it can suppress that a dust diffuses from the entrance / exit 13. In addition, since the amount of dust accumulated in the booth 11 is reduced, the frequency of cleaning in the booth 11 can be reduced.

The air volume of the fan 15 is appropriately set according to the size of the booth 11, but in general, a fan having an exhaust capacity of 5 m ³ / min or more of the air volume has an air volume with respect to the dust amount diffused in the booth 11. It is preferably used from the viewpoint that it can be made sufficiently large. Thereby, the dust diffused in the booth 11 can be more reliably removed in a short time. Further, by providing the fan 15 having such an air volume, an air flow directed toward the fan 15 can be appropriately formed, and dust is diffused from the entrance / exit 13 of the booth 11 or a space to the carry-in door 2 side. This can be suppressed.

  If the space where the fan 15 pushes the air in the booth 11 is a space (such as outside the factory) that is different from the space where the film forming apparatus is disposed, the dust filter may not be attached. The space to be pushed out is not limited, and it is preferable to attach a dust filter to the fan 15 as described above from the viewpoint of further increasing the degree of freedom of the device layout.

  As mentioned above, although the film-forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention was demonstrated, the film-forming apparatus which concerns on each said embodiment is either an arc type ion plating method, sputtering method, plasma CVD method, or these. It can be preferably used in a film forming process performed by combining two or more of the above methods.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically based on examples.

1. Film formation process (Example)
(1) Film forming apparatus Using the film forming apparatus shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, film forming processing was performed by an arc ion plating method. As the fan 15 to be installed on the ceiling of the booth 11 using the inverter fan air volume adjustable from 0~30m ³ / min, it was set air volume to ^{20 m} 3 / min.

  Further, a dust filter was attached to the intake port of the fan 15 in three stages so that the eyes gradually became finer. Specifically, the first stage dust filter uses a pre-filter for capturing dust with a particle size of 10 to 20 μm, the second stage is a dust capturing filter of 2 μm scale, and the third stage is 0.3 μm. A HEPA filter for capturing dust of size particle size was used.

(2) Film formation As the substrate W, 300 drills made of SKH51 having a diameter of 10 mm and a length of 120 mm were prepared. After cleaning the substrate W and mounting it on the rotary table 7, the loading door 2 was opened, and the rotary table 7 was carried into the vacuum chamber 1 using the carriage 6. Then, the door 2 for carrying in was closed and the automatic film-forming process was started.

In the automatic film forming process, first, an automatic self-diagnosis was performed to check whether each part has an electrical abnormality or a malfunction in the trigger. Next, after evacuation was performed until the atmospheric pressure in the vacuum chamber 1 reached 1 × 10 ⁻² Pa, the main exhaust valve was closed and the system was on standby for 1 minute to perform a leak check diagnosis for examining an excessive pressure increase. After confirming that there was no abnormality, the heater was energized and the substrate W was heated to 450 ° C. Thereafter, argon gas was introduced into the vacuum chamber 1 to adjust the pressure to 0.2 Pa, and a separately installed filament was energized to emit thermoelectrons. And the bias voltage of -500V was applied to the turntable 7 containing the base material W, and the base-material washing | cleaning (bombarding) process was implemented automatically for 45 minutes.

  Thereafter, nitrogen gas was introduced to adjust the pressure in the vacuum chamber 1 to 3 Pa, and six arc evaporation sources 4 each equipped with a cathode of TiAl (30:70 atm%) were operated, and TiAlN for 60 minutes. The film forming process was performed. Thereafter, the process was completed after the substrate W was automatically cooled to 180 ° C.

  Then, before opening the door 3 for carrying out, the fan 15 is operated, it enters in the booth 11, and after closing the door 14 of the entrance / exit 13 of the booth 11, the vacuum chamber 1 is open | released to air | atmosphere, The pressure was returned to atmospheric pressure. Next, the door 3 for carrying out was opened, the base material W formed into a film with the rotary table 7 was carried out from the inside of the vacuum chamber 1 using the trolley | bogie 6, and was naturally cooled in the booth 11. FIG.

  Next, maintenance necessary for the next film forming process (mainly cleaning in the vacuum chamber 1 with a vacuum cleaner or vacuum sealing) is performed in the vacuum chamber 1 with the door 3 for unloading being opened. The O-ring was cleaned, and then the door 3 for unloading was closed and the booth 11 was taken out. At that time, the door 14 of the entrance 13 of the booth 11 was opened and closed as quickly as possible.

  Then, the door 2 for carrying in was opened, another base material W prepared for the next film-forming process was carried in in the vacuum chamber 1, and said automatic film-forming process was started.

(Comparative example)
The conventional film forming apparatus shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 is used as the film forming apparatus. After the process is completed, the vacuum chamber 1 is opened to the atmosphere, the internal pressure is returned to atmospheric pressure, and the door 22 on the front surface of the vacuum chamber 21 is opened. The film formation process was performed in the same procedure as in the example except that the substrate W after opening and film formation was carried out.

2. Evaluation (1) Evaluation Method The amount of dust generated during the above film forming process (the amount of dust diffused in the space where the film forming apparatus is installed) is placed at a position 5 m away from the loading door of the film forming apparatus. Measured using a particle counter. Specifically, the amounts of five types of dust (0.3 μm, 0.5 μm, 1.0 μm, 3.0 μm, 5.0 μm) having different sizes were measured. In addition, KANOMAX MODEL-3886 was used for the particle counter, and the value for every minute was measured.

(2) Evaluation Results FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show the measurement results before and after opening the unloading door of the vacuum chamber 1 in order to unload the substrate W at the end of the processes of the example and the comparative example.

  In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, no change is seen in the measurement results before and after opening the door for unloading for any of the above five sizes of dust, and the space on the door for unloading and for unloading. It was confirmed that the dust can be appropriately prevented from diffusing into the door-side space for carrying out by preventing air from flowing between the door-side space and the door-side space. In addition, despite the fact that the air inside the booth was pushed out, dust was not measured in the space on the door side for loading outside the booth. It was confirmed that it was captured.

  On the other hand, in the case of the comparative example from FIG. 8, the number of particles increased rapidly immediately after opening the door, and it was confirmed that the dust diffused into the room in a short time by opening the door. Also, about 5 minutes after opening the door, the number of particles returns to the level before opening the door, so dust with a relatively large particle size falls to the floor, etc. Presumed to be ventilated.

Separately from the above, film formation was performed in the same procedure as in the example except that the air volume sucked out by the fan was adjusted to less than 5 m ³ / min, and the amount of dust generated was measured by the same method. As a result, there was a slight change in the amount of dust before and after opening the booth entrance. From this result, it was found that the fan air volume is preferably 5 m ³ / min or more.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on embodiment, this invention is not limited to said embodiment. Various modifications can be made to the above-described embodiment within the same and equivalent scope as the present invention.

1, 21, 31 Vacuum chamber 2 Carry-in door 3 Carry-out door 4 Film-forming material (arc evaporation source)
5 Vacuum pump 6 Dolly 7, 37 Turntable 8 Power supply / control panel 11 Booth 12 Partition 13 Entrance 14 Entrance door 15 Fan 22 Door 31a Loading chamber 31b Preheating chamber 31c Deposition chamber 31d Unloading chamber W Base material

Claims (6)

A film forming apparatus for performing a film forming process on the surface of a substrate housed in the vacuum chamber using an independent vacuum chamber,
The vacuum chamber is provided with a loading door for carrying the base material before the film forming process into the vacuum chamber, and a carrying door for carrying the base material after the film forming process out from the vacuum chamber,
The carry-in door is disposed in one of two spaces separated from each other by a partition provided outside the vacuum chamber, and the carry-out door is disposed in the other space. A film forming apparatus. The film forming process is an arc type ion plating method, a sputtering method, a plasma CVD method, or a film forming process using a combination of two or more of these methods,
The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate during the film forming process is heated to a temperature higher than room temperature.   3. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a booth formed by surrounding a periphery of the unloading door with a partition is provided outside the unloading door.   The film forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the booth is provided with a fan that pushes air in the booth into a space different from a space in which the film forming apparatus is disposed. The booth is equipped with a fan that pushes the air in the booth to the outside of the booth,
5. The film forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a dust filter that adsorbs dust contained in the air pushed out from the booth is attached to the fan. 6. The film forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein an air volume for pushing out air in the booth of the fan is 5 m ³ / min or more.

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