JPH0733577B2 - Vacuum deposition equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a vacuum deposition apparatus for depositing a metal such as aluminum or a nonmetal such as ceramics on a film such as a plastic film, and various non-plastic materials. The present invention relates to a vacuum vapor deposition device for vapor depositing a metal material or a non-metal material on a metal material or a metal material.

[Conventional technology]

As shown in FIG. 2, a conventional vacuum vapor deposition apparatus for vapor-depositing aluminum on a plastic film is provided in a vacuum chamber a composed of an upper chamber f and a lower chamber (vapor deposition chamber) g partitioned by a partition plate h. While the film b wound in a coil shape is unwound by the unwinder c, aluminum vapor evaporated from the crucible j in the lower chamber g is vapor-deposited in the cooling chamber and wound by the winder e to wind one coil. When the vapor deposition is completed, the vacuum chamber a is opened to the atmosphere, the film b wound in a new coil shape is replaced, and then the pump k and l are evacuated to a vacuum again to perform the vapor deposition work. There is.

It should be noted that the aluminum in crucible j consumes about 1 kg at a time and does not need to be continuously supplied, but it is discharged each time to prevent damage to crucible j when opening to the atmosphere. After carrying out the maintenance, the new aluminum is loaded.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, when the amount of plastic film processed in one operation is increased to, for example, 300 times the conventional amount, the amount of aluminum consumed is 300 times 1 kg, which is about 300 kg. .

As a measure to implement this, a continuous supply device for aluminum wires is provided in the conventional vacuum chamber a described above, and
It is conceivable that the aluminum is continuously supplied in the inside.

However, in this measure, the vacuum chamber becomes large, and if the continuous supply device for aluminum wires in the vacuum chamber fails, the entire continuous vacuum deposition apparatus must be stopped.
There is a problem such as.

In order to solve such a problem, the present invention has an object to propose a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus provided with means for continuously supplying aluminum from the atmosphere to a crucible in a vacuum chamber.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The present invention has the above-mentioned object in a continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus that has a vacuum chamber and a vapor deposition chamber, and performs vapor deposition by running a vapor deposition substrate to the outside of the apparatus → the vacuum chamber → the vapor deposition chamber → the vacuum chamber → the outside of the apparatus to perform vapor deposition. This is achieved by a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus characterized in that it is provided with means for supplying metal from outside the apparatus to the vacuum chamber to the vapor deposition chamber.

[Action]

The vapor deposition metal supply means in the present invention supplies the vapor deposition metal into the vapor deposition chamber from the outside of the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus through the vacuum chamber.

Therefore, the evaporated metal to be supplied is placed outside the device,
In addition, the drive unit for supplying the vapor deposition metal to the vapor deposition chamber is also arranged outside the apparatus, and the one installed inside the apparatus has a simple structure such as a guide means (guide roll, guide plate, etc.) for the vapor deposition metal and a failure does not occur. Limited to those that are unlikely to occur.

As a result, the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus does not become large, and even if the vapor deposition metal supply drive unit stops, the entire apparatus can be easily repaired without stopping.

As the means for supplying the vapor-deposited metal in the above invention, for example, the inside of a vacuum chamber is partitioned into a plurality of vacuum chambers by a plurality of partition walls and a set of one to three seal rolls, and each of these vacuum chambers is evacuated to vacuum. A device is installed so that the pressure gradually decreases from the atmosphere side to the vapor deposition chamber, a hole with a diameter of several mm is opened in each of the plurality of partition walls, and the wire-shaped vapor-deposited metal placed outside the vacuum chamber is It is possible to exemplify the one in which the holes are sequentially supplied to the vapor deposition chamber.

In this means, proper gaps are provided between the plurality of partition walls and the seal rolls and between the seal rolls to prevent the seal rolls from contacting each other and eaves. Further, if the gap between the hole opened in the partition wall and the wire-shaped vapor-deposited metal passing through this hole is extremely small (about 1/100 or less) as compared with the above-mentioned gap area around the seal roll, The pressure increase due to this gap is almost negligible, and the vapor deposition metal can be continuously supplied while the vacuum vapor deposition operation is continued.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention. In this embodiment, a plastic film is used as a vapor deposition substrate, and aluminum is vacuum vapor deposited on this.

The present invention is not limited to this, and the same applies to the case where another non-metal or metal material is used as a vapor deposition substrate and aluminum or other metal or non-metal is vapor-deposited on the vapor deposition substrate.

In FIG. 1, in the continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus, a plastic film 1 discharged from a device (not shown) for discharging a coiled film is an inlet of a continuous vacuum sealing device A including vacuum chambers a to e. To the first-stage vacuum chamber a through the space between the seal rolls 2 and 2 ', and then to the second-stage vacuum chamber b through the space between the seal rolls 3 and 3'at the second-stage inlet. After that, seal rolls 4,4 '→ 5,5' → 6,6 '→
The vapor of aluminum 10 melted in the crucible 9 is vaporized under the vapor deposition roll 8 under the vapor deposition roll 8 through the third to fifth vacuum chambers c to e passing through 7, 7 '. After being
It is again guided to the continuous vacuum sealing device A, and the seal roll is 7 ', 7 "→ 6', 6" → 5 ', 5 "in reverse of the above-mentioned inlet side.
→ 4 ′, 4 ″ → 3 ′, 3 ″ → 2 ′, 2 ″
It is carried out into the atmosphere through the stage vacuum chambers e to a and is wound up by a winding device (not shown).

When the vapor deposition of one roll of film is completed, the film is replaced by a continuous exchanging device (not shown) provided in the pay-out section and the winding section, and the films are vapor-deposited one after another without interruption and continuously for more than 300 hours. Be driven.

Here, the continuous vacuum sealing device A has a plurality of partition walls 2
, 3,4,5,6,7 and seal rolls 2,2 ′, 2 ″, 3,
3 ', 3 ", 4,4', 4", 5,5 ', 5 ", 6,6', 6" 7,7 ', 7 " c, d, e, vapor deposition chamber f, and vacuum pumps i for exhausting the respective vacuum chambers a to e and vapor deposition chamber f,
ii, iii, iv, v, vi, which continuously exhausts the air flowing in through the gaps between the seal rolls and the seal rolls and between the seal rolls and the partition walls, and the pressures of the respective chambers a to f are as follows. As shown in an example of the implementation data, the operation is performed from the atmosphere toward the vapor deposition chamber so that the vacuum is sequentially increased.

1st stage vacuum chamber a: 400Torr 2nd stage vacuum chamber b: 150Torr 3rd stage vacuum chamber c: 50Torr 4th stage vacuum chamber d: 5Torr 5th stage vacuum chamber e: 1 × 10 ^-2 Torr Vapor deposition chamber f: 1 × 10 ⁻⁴ Torr Further, below the vapor deposition roll 8 is the crucible 9 for melting and evaporating the aluminum 10 as described above.
The crucible 9 is heated by a heating means (not shown) such as a high frequency induction heating device.

By the way, usually, the consumption of aluminum is about 1 kg / h, and the amount of aluminum held in the crucible is about 10 kg. Therefore, once the aluminum is loaded into the crucible, it is about 8-9.
It is possible to operate without replenishing time, but if it is longer than that, it is necessary to replenish aluminum with the aluminum supply means of the present invention configured as follows, for example.

That is, the partition walls 2, 3 that partition the above vacuum chambers a to e
, 4,5,6,7 are provided with holes a, b, c, d, h and f for passing the aluminum wire 11, and the aluminum wire 11 is passed in the same direction as the passing direction of the plastic film, and the The aluminum wire 11 is continuously supplied to the crucible 9 by the continuous supply device 11 'of the aluminum wire 11, the guide roll 12 and the feed roll 13 driven by the drive device (not shown). Here, the gap between the aluminum wire 11 and the holes a to f is set to several mm or less, and the amount of air leaking from this gap is set to a sufficiently negligible amount.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the guide roll 12 'and the guide plate 12 "of the aluminum wire 11 may be provided inside the vapor deposition chamber f.

The aluminum supply means in the present invention is operated intermittently, for example, every about 8 to 9 hours as described above, and the tip of the aluminum wire 11 is located above the surface of the molten aluminum 10 during the operation stop period. The other portions (portions other than the leading end) are positioned inside the guide plate 12 ″, the guide roll 12 ′, and the holes H to A as shown in FIG.
Even in the state during this operation stop period, as described above, the gaps between the holes a to f are sufficiently small, the amount of air leaking from this can be ignored, and the vacuum deposition can be favorably continued.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to continuously perform metal vapor deposition on a much larger amount of vapor deposition substrate (for example, 300 times as large as that of the conventional apparatus) than in the conventional apparatus.

Further, according to the vapor deposition metal supply means of the device of the present invention shown in the embodiment, compared with the gap area between the seal rolls in the vacuum chamber and between the seal roll and the partition wall, the gap area between the vapor deposition metal wire such as aluminum and the hole is Since it is about 1/100, the amount of air leak can be ignored and the pressure in the vacuum chamber is maintained within the range where vacuum deposition is possible. Therefore, it becomes possible to continuously supply evaporated metal such as aluminum while vacuum evaporation continues.
Vacuum deposition can be continuously performed for a long time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an embodiment of the device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view showing a conventional device. 1: Plastic film, A: Continuous vacuum sealing device, 11:
Aluminum wire, 11 ': continuous feeder for aluminum wire, 2 to 7,2' to 7 ', 2 "to 7": seal roll,
2-7: Partition wall, A, B, C, D, E, F: Hole for passing aluminum wire, 9: Crucible, 10: Molten aluminum, 12, 12 ': Guide roll of aluminum wire, 1
2 ″: Aluminum wire guide plate, 13: Aluminum feed roll

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A continuous vacuum vapor deposition apparatus having a vacuum chamber and a vapor deposition chamber, wherein a vapor deposition substrate is moved to the outside of the apparatus → a vacuum chamber → the vapor deposition chamber → the vacuum chamber → the outside of the apparatus for vapor deposition, and the vapor deposition metal is used as the apparatus. A vacuum vapor deposition apparatus comprising means for supplying from an external chamber to a vacuum chamber to a vapor deposition chamber.