JPH043771B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus for sheet-like materials,
For details, in a vacuum container in a plasma atmosphere,
This invention relates to a device that performs low-temperature plasma treatment by placing a sheet material along the outer peripheral surface of a rotating drum-shaped discharge electrode.

[Prior Art] In recent years, plasma treatment has attracted attention as a treatment method for improving the chemical, physical, mechanical, optical or electrical properties or surface structure of sheet materials such as plastic films and fabrics. . In other words, plasma treatment can improve the adhesion, friction properties, texture, gloss or color fastness of sheet materials, or improve the antistatic, surface hardening, roughening, anti-blocking, or darkening of dyed materials. It is known that this can be achieved (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 57-18737 and 60-149441).

Conventionally, this type of plasma processing apparatus for sheet-like materials has a drum-shaped discharge electrode fixed to a rotating shaft that passes through the vacuum container, and a rod-shaped discharge electrode facing the drum-shaped discharge electrode, which is provided inside the vacuum container. . and,
For example, by insulating the vacuum vessel from the electric circuit to which both discharge electrodes are connected, plasma discharge from both discharge electrodes to the vacuum vessel is prevented,
Prevents power consumption.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, conventionally, the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft to which the drum-shaped discharge electrode is rotatably fixed is also in a charged state. However, since plasma is discharged from the rod-shaped discharge electrode, power is wasted.

In addition, plasma processing equipment for sheet-like materials generally requires large-scale equipment due to the wide range of sheet-like materials to be treated. It is necessary to have processing capacity. In other words, it is necessary to further increase the input power of the plasma processing apparatus, which originally creates a plasma atmosphere, to increase the plasma density, thereby improving the processing capacity. However, in a vacuum vessel in a plasma atmosphere with low electrical resistance, if the above input is increased, a large local electrical non-uniformity will occur between the electrical discharge circuit and the vacuum vessel, which are isolated from each other. As a result, a narrow corner, for example, a portion between a rotating shaft penetrating the vacuum vessel and a vacuum vessel adjacent to this rotating shaft, becomes insufficiently insulated, allowing current to flow inside the vacuum vessel and damaging the inner wall of the vacuum vessel. emits light, which eventually causes an instantaneous abnormal arc discharge. Therefore, the plasma discharge state becomes unstable and continuous operation cannot be performed.

This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and allows continuous operation with a large amount of power flowing.
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a plasma processing apparatus for a sheet-like material that prevents wastage of power, that is, can be used industrially.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the sheet material plasma processing apparatus of the present invention first includes a vacuum container that is
It is insulated from an electric circuit connecting a rotating shaft passing through the vacuum container, a drum-shaped first discharge electrode fixed to the rotary shaft and rotating, and a second discharge electrode facing thereto. An insulating member is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the first discharge electrode rotating shaft.

[Function] According to the present invention, since the vacuum container is insulated from the electric circuit, it is possible to prevent loss caused by discharge of plasma into the vacuum container. Furthermore, since the insulating member is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft, that is, the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft is insulated from the first discharge electrode.
There is no fear that plasma discharge will occur from the second discharge electrode to the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft.

Furthermore, since the outer circumferential surface of the rotating shaft is insulated from the first discharge electrode and the vacuum container is insulated from the electric circuit including the rotating shaft, for example, a portion through which the rotating shaft passes through the vacuum container and the rotating shaft can be Since there is no risk of insufficient insulation between the outer circumferential surface of the vacuum chamber, that is, the narrow corner, there is no risk of abnormal arc discharge occurring within the vacuum container.

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1 showing a first embodiment of the present invention, a vacuum vessel 1 includes a drum-shaped drum electrode (first discharge electrode) 2 and a number of rod electrodes (first discharge electrode) facing the drum electrode 2. 2 discharge electrode) 3 and
installed in parallel. Both these discharge electrodes 2, 3
In between, a voltage is applied from an AC power source 4 via a transformer 5 and an electric circuit 6 that connects both the discharge electrodes 2 and 3.

The vacuum container 1 is made of stainless steel and is filled with extremely low-pressure plasma processing gas by a gas container 7 filled with plasma processing gas and a vacuum evacuation device 8 for creating a vacuum in the vacuum container 1. It is kept in the same condition. A is a sheet-like material,
From the unwinding machine 11, it is guided by the guide roll 12 and wound up by the winding machine 13 along the outer peripheral surface of the drum electrode 2, which is rotationally driven. That is, the sheet-like material A of the unwinder 11 is continuously subjected to low-temperature plasma treatment on the drum electrode 2 in the vacuum container 1 held in a plasma atmosphere, and then wound up by the winder 13 .

In Fig. 2, 14 is a rotating shaft, and the vacuum vessel 1
The penetrating portion 14a passes through the penetrated portion 1a of the vacuum container 1, and is driven by a motor (not shown) provided outside the vacuum container 1. The rotating shaft 14 is provided so as to protrude from both side wall portions 2a of the drum electrode 2, and is provided with bearings 16A and 16B at an outer side portion 14b and a left end portion 14c located outside the vacuum vessel 1 than the through portion 14a, respectively.
It is rotatably supported by the vacuum container 1 via the support members 17A and 17B. The rotating shaft 14 is made of metal with a solid left end 14c and a hollow metal part, and the outer peripheral surface and left end surface, except for the right end 14d, are covered with an insulating member 14e. Penetrating portion 14a of the rotating shaft 14 and vacuum container 1
A mechanical seal 1 is provided between the penetrated portion 1a and the
5 is provided, and the space between them is sealed.

The drum electrode 2 is fixed to the rotating shaft 14 and rotates, and has a water jacket 2b and pipes 18, 19 through which a cooling medium flows. Note that the pipes 18 and 19 are connected to a pipe 20 inserted into the rotating shaft 14 and a pipe 20 inserted into the rotating shaft 14, respectively.
It communicates with the inner hollow part 14f.

Both ends 3a of the plurality of rod electrodes 3 are fixed to a pair of support members 21. This support member 2
1 is supported by the vacuum container 1 via an insulator 22 and is electrically insulated from the vacuum container 1.

One end of the electrical circuit 6 is inserted into the vacuum container 1 via an introduction terminal 6a that insulates the vacuum container 1 from the electrical circuit 6, and is connected to the rod electrode 3. The other end is connected to the drum electrode 2 via a slip ring 23 and a rotating shaft 14. That is, the vacuum container 1 is electrically insulated from the electric circuit 6 including the electrodes 2 and 3 and the rotating shaft 14, and is maintained in a grounded state. Note that the electric circuit 6 and both discharge electrodes 2 and 3 are kept ungrounded and strictly insulated from the vacuum vessel 1.

In the above configuration, in the present invention, since the vacuum container 1 is insulated from the electric circuit 6, there is no possibility that plasma will be discharged from the rod electrode 3 to the vacuum container 1, so that power consumption can be prevented. Also, the rotating shaft 14
Since the insulating member 14e is provided on the outer circumferential surface of the rotary shaft 14, there is no possibility that plasma will be discharged from the rod electrode 3 to the outer circumferential surface of the rotating shaft 14, so that power consumption can be prevented.

Further, as described above, since the outer circumferential surface of the rotating shaft 14 is insulated from the drum electrode 2 and the vacuum container 1 is insulated from the electric circuit 6 including the rotating shaft 14, the penetration portion 14a of the rotating shaft 14, There is no risk that the insulation will be insufficient in the portion between the penetrating portion 1a of the vacuum container 1 adjacent thereto, that is, the narrow corner. Therefore, there is no risk of abnormal arc discharge occurring in the narrow corner or in the vacuum vessel in the plasma atmosphere, allowing continuous operation.

Further, as described above, since the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 14 is not charged, it is exposed to the plasma atmosphere and the mechanical seal 15 has a complicated structure.
There is no risk of arc discharge occurring. Therefore, it can withstand long-term continuous operation.

Also, in bearings 16A and 16B,
Similarly, since there is no risk of arcing,
Bearings 16A, 16B can be provided within vacuum vessel 1 in a plasma atmosphere. Therefore, since the heavy drum electrode 2 can be supported by the bearings 16A, 16B on both sides of the rotating shaft 14, the diameter of the rotating shaft 14 can be reduced and the bearings 16A, 1
6B can be made smaller.

In addition, only the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 14 is covered with the insulating member 14.
The drum electrode 2 is charged from the slip ring 23 provided outside the vacuum container 1 via the rotating shaft 14. Therefore, there is no fear that the plasma atmosphere will be damaged by the wear powder of the slip ring 23 or that arc discharge will occur in the wear powder, so that the plasma processing apparatus can be operated smoothly and continuously.

In this invention, the insulating member 14e includes:
fine ceramics, ceramics, glass,
Alternatively, heat-resistant, ultraviolet-resistant, or electron beam-resistant plastic films may be used alone or in combination. This is because there is no risk that the insulating member 14e itself will be invaded by the plasma atmosphere or that impurity gas will be generated within the vacuum container 1. Further, the insulating member 14e may cover at least the penetrating portion 14a of the rotating shaft 14 and a necessary portion of the rotating shaft 14 inside the vacuum container 1 beyond the penetrating portion 14a.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the invention.

In this figure, a protective member 14g is made of metal such as stainless steel, and is provided on the outer periphery of the insulating member 14e on the rotating shaft 14.
It covers and protects the insulating member 14e.
Note that a gap W is provided in the axial direction between the protection member 14g and the drum electrode 2.
g is prevented from being charged. The other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the same or equivalent parts are given the same reference numerals and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted. According to this embodiment, for example, the second
The impact force from the illustrated bearings 16A, 16B can prevent the insulating member 14e in FIG. 3 from cracking.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, in this invention, an unwinding machine 11 and a winding machine 13 are provided in other vacuum containers 1A and 1B, respectively, on both sides of the vacuum container 1, so that both vacuum containers 1A , 1B are flanged to the vacuum vessel 1. Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
3 may be provided outside the vacuum container 1. In this figure, reference numerals 9 and 10 are preliminary vacuum chambers, and a plurality of seal rolls (not shown) and a seal chamber (not shown) are provided in the traveling direction of the sheet material A, and the seal chamber is kept under vacuum. By suctioning, the pressure is reduced stepwise from the atmospheric pressure, thereby helping to maintain the inside of the vacuum container 1 at a predetermined pressure.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent power consumption in a plasma processing apparatus for sheet-like materials that consumes a large amount of power, and also to prevent abnormal arc discharge. The processing equipment gains industrial processing capacity and becomes capable of continuous operation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of main parts showing a second embodiment of the invention. , 4th
5 and 5 are schematic configuration diagrams of another sheet-shaped material plasma processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Vacuum container, 2... First discharge electrode (drum electrode), 3... Second discharge electrode (rod electrode), 6...
...Electric circuit, 14... Rotating shaft, 14e... Insulating member, 14g... Protective member, A... Sheet-like material.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A drum-shaped first discharge electrode that is fixed to and rotates on a rotating shaft that penetrates a vacuum container and has a sheet-like material along its outer peripheral surface, and a second discharge electrode that faces this first discharge electrode. A plasma processing apparatus for a sheet-like material provided inside a vacuum container, the vacuum container being electrically insulated from an electric circuit including both of the discharge electrodes and the rotating shaft, and having a A plasma processing apparatus for sheet-like materials provided with an insulating member.