JPH0768610B2 - Plasma beam deflection method in thin film forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plasma beam deflection method in a thin film forming apparatus in which a plasma beam generated by a plasma gun is focused on an anode.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, plasma beams have been used in thin film forming apparatuses such as vacuum deposition, ion plating and CVD. For example, in the physical vapor deposition apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 7, the plasma beam 102 generated by the pressure gradient type plasma gun 101 is extracted into the vacuum container 104 by the magnetic field formed by the hollow coil 103, and the plasma beam 102 below the crucible 105, which is the anode. The vapor deposition material 10 housed in the crucible 105 by the action of the magnetic field formed by the permanent magnet 106.
After focusing on 7 parts, the vapor deposition material 107 is heated. The vapor deposition material 107 heated by the plasma beam 102 is vaporized, partially ionized when passing through the region of the plasma beam 102, and collides with the deposition target material 109 held in the material holder 108 to form a film. Form. In addition, when the film forming material 109 has a ground potential, vacuum deposition is performed, and when the film forming material 109 is negative charge, ion plating is performed. Further, in the case of continuously forming a film on a long thin film forming material by plasma CVD, ion plating, or the like, the two elongated permanent magnets 110 and 111 are arranged so that their N poles are the plasma beam 10.
Films are formed by arranging the plasma beams 102 so as to face each other with the plasma beam 102 formed into a sheet.

[0003]

However, the plasma beam 102 in the above-mentioned conventional thin film forming apparatus 100.
Then, the shape and the focusing region of the plasma beam 102 focused on the anode are determined by the magnetic field created by the hollow coil, the magnetic field created by the permanent magnet arranged in the anode part, etc., but since these magnetic fields are always constant, Plasma beam 1
The shape of 02 and the focusing area are always constant.

Therefore, in order to make the film thickness distribution on the surface of the film forming material 109 uniform, there is no method other than rotating the film forming material 109, especially when the film forming material 109 is a long thin plate. Cannot rotate the material to be deposited,
There is a problem that it is impossible to form a film having a substantially uniform thickness.

Furthermore, when a plurality of plasma guns are arranged side by side to form a film, the plasma guns cannot be sufficiently brought close to each other due to the dimensional restrictions of the hollow coil and the like, so that the boundary portion of each plasma beam is completely closed. However, there is a problem that a uniform film formation distribution cannot be obtained.

[0006]

Therefore, the plasma beam deflecting method of the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the plasma beam drawn into the vacuum chamber traverses the entire area of the plasma beam. The magnetic flux in the same direction is applied.

[0007]

In the above plasma deflection method, the plasma beam drawn into the vacuum container is given a magnetic flux in the same direction so as to traverse the whole area of the plasma beam while converging on the anode, and the direction of the magnetic flux is changed. Biased to. The change in the magnetic flux direction changes the deflection direction of the plasma beam, and the change in the magnetic flux density changes the deflection amount of the plasma beam.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a physical vapor deposition apparatus 1 according to the present invention, in which a vacuum container 2 is a vacuum exhaust device (not shown) whose inner air is sucked and exhausted through an exhaust port 3 to provide a vacuum degree suitable for physical vapor deposition (about 10 ^−1). Pa to 10 ^-2 Pa). The material holder 4 for holding the film-forming material 5 is a vacuum container 2
The material holder 4 may be at a ground potential or a negative potential. Crucible 6 containing vapor deposition material 8
The (anode) is arranged in the lower part of the vacuum container 2. The permanent magnet 9 is arranged below the crucible 6 and the S pole is directed upward. The plasma gun 10 is arranged on one side surface of the vacuum container 2 and is made of, for example, argon (Ar) or hydrogen (H ₂ ).
A plasma generating gas 11 such as is supplied. The hollow coil 12 is connected to a DC power source (not shown), and is arranged so as to surround the plasma emission part of the plasma gun 10.
As shown in FIG. 2, the ring 13 made of a magnetic material is provided with a pair of permanent magnets 14 and 15 facing each other on the inner peripheral portion, and the magnetic pole (N pole) of one magnet 15 and the magnetic pole of the other magnet 14 are provided. The magnetic pole is different from the (S pole), and a magnetic flux from the N pole to the S pole is formed between these magnetic poles, and the leakage of the magnetic flux other than the perpendicular magnetic field from the N pole surface to the S pole surface is prevented. To do.
The ring 13 is arranged so as to surround the plasma beam 17 drawn out into the vacuum chamber 2 and the magnetic poles face each other with the plasma beam 17 interposed therebetween, and the ring is coaxial with the axis of the plasma beam 17 by the motor 16. It is possible to rotate with a moving shaft. Further, the rotation axis may be an axis parallel to the axis of the plasma beam 17.

In the physical vapor deposition apparatus 1 having the above structure, the plasma beam 17 generated by the plasma gun 10 is extracted into the vacuum chamber 2 by the magnetic field formed by the hollow coil 12, and the permanent magnet 9 below the crucible 6 is removed. It is focused on the vapor deposition material 8 by the created magnetic field and the vapor deposition material 8 is heated.
As a result, the vapor deposition material 8 in the heated portion evaporates, is partially ionized when passing through the region of the plasma beam 17, collides with the film forming material 5 held in the material holder 4, and its surface is Form a film. During the vapor deposition, a reaction gas 18 such as nitrogen (N ₂ ) or oxygen (O ₂ ) may be introduced into the vacuum container 2.

Further, when the plasma beam 17 drawn into the vacuum chamber 2 passes through the ring 13, a magnetic flux in the same direction traversing the entire area of the plasma beam is given and deflected. That is, inside the ring 13, a magnetic flux from the N pole to the S pole is formed, and the plasma beam 17 is deflected to the S pole side by this magnetic flux, and the plasma beam 17 is sandwiched, for example, as shown in FIG. So N
When the pole is on the bottom and on the S pole, the state is deflected to the state 17 'shown by the dotted line. In addition, the ring 13 is moved to 18 by the motor 16.
When it is rotated by 0 ° and the N pole is placed on the upper side and the S pole is placed on the lower side, the state is deflected to a state 17 ″ indicated by a chain line in FIG. Similarly, as shown in FIG.
1 from the state of FIG. 1 in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction shown in the drawing, the plasma beam 1
7 is deflected to the left and right.

Therefore, the motor 16 causes the ring 13 to
Is rotated at a constant speed, the focusing position of the plasma beam 17 with respect to the vapor deposition material 8 changes periodically, and the vapor deposition material 8
Since the dissolution area of the film is expanded, the film formation area for the film formation material 5 is expanded. Further, the film thickness of a specific portion of the film-forming material 5 can be controlled by changing the rotation speed of the ring 13 depending on the location or by temporarily stopping the rotation at a specific location.

Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows a physical vapor deposition device in which two plasma guns 10 are arranged side by side. In this physical vapor deposition device, magnetic flux is formed from the left side to the right side in the ring 13a on the left side in the figure, and conversely, magnetic flux is formed from the right side to the left side in the right side ring 13b, and the left and right plasma beams 17a, 17b are formed. Are each deflected toward the central part.

Therefore, the left and right plasma beams 17
By adjusting the deflection amounts of a and 17b, the vapor deposition material 8
The above can be focused on the same region, the evaporation of the vapor deposition material 8 is promoted, and the film formation rate is increased. Further, the focusing width on the vapor deposition material 8 can be changed by adjusting the rotation angles of the two rings 13a and 13b. When the long material is continuously vapor-deposited, the focusing width becomes wider in the plate width direction. You can

Further, in the case of a long material whose plate width changes in the longitudinal direction, the focusing width can be controlled according to the plate width by adjusting the rotation angles of the rings 13a and 13b according to the change of the plate width.

In the above embodiment, an apparatus for performing physical vapor deposition using plasma has been described, but chemical vapor deposition may be used. Moreover, the permanent magnet 1 is attached to the ring 13.
When providing the magnets 4 and 15, as shown in FIG. 5, the permanent magnets 14 and 15 are replaced by a plurality of magnets 14 ′, 14 ″, 1
4 ''',15', 15 '', 15 '''may be used to expand the range of influence of the magnetic field.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the magnets provided on the ring 13 may be electromagnets 24 and 25. In this case, the deflection direction can be switched by 180 ° in an extremely short time by switching the current application direction, and the deflection amount can be freely adjusted by changing the current value.

[0017]

As is apparent from the above description, in the plasma beam deflection method according to the present invention, the density and / or direction of the magnetic flux in the same direction traversing the whole area of the plasma beam is changed to change the plasma beam. It is possible to change the focusing position for the anode.

Therefore, it is possible to increase the area for focusing the plasma beam on the anode and the area for forming the film on the material to be formed. Further, in the physical vapor deposition process, by locally changing the focusing time of the plasma beam for the vapor deposition material, it is possible to locally change the film thickness for the film forming material and obtain an optimum film thickness distribution. it can. Further, even when the plasma guns are arranged side by side, the space between the plasma guns can be freely adjusted without being restricted by the dimensions of the hollow coil.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a physical vapor deposition device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a ring.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a beam showing a deflection state of a plasma beam.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a beam in which plasma guns are arranged in parallel.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing another embodiment of the ring.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing another embodiment of the ring.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional physical vapor deposition device.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Vacuum container, 10 ... Plasma gun, 12 ... Hollow coil, 17 ... Plasma beam, 100 ... Thin film forming apparatus.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A thin film forming apparatus in which a plasma beam generated by a plasma gun is drawn into a vacuum container by a magnetic field formed by a hollow coil, and the plasma beam is focused on an anode by a magnetic field formed by a magnet, A plasma beam deflection method in a thin film forming apparatus, characterized in that a magnetic flux in the same direction that traverses the entire area of the plasma beam is applied to the plasma beam drawn into the vacuum container.