Film-forming apparatus and film-forming method

• US 6,419,800 B2
• Filed: 01/18/2001
• Issued: 07/16/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nippon Sheet Glass Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nippon Sheet Glass Company Limited
• Inventors: Mori, Kenji, Anzaki, Toshiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): VERSTEEG, STEVEN H
• Application Number:
  US09/764,520
• Publication Number:
  US 20010009221A1
• Time in Patent Office: 544 Days
• Field of Search: 204/192.12, 204/298.08, 204/298.17, 204/298.23, 204/298.28
• US Class Current: 204/192.12
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/352 using more than one target C23C14/56 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/505 for rotation of the substrates
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/544 using measurement in the gas phase
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/545 using measurement on deposited material
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 1/10 Optical coatings produced by application to, or surface treatment of, optical elements G02B1/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/3405 Magnetron sputtering

Abstract

There may be used a film-forming apparatus having a substrate 4 that is rotatable around the center of one rotating axis 10 in the vertical direction situated in an inner cylinder 12, and a plurality (four in FIG. 2) of target units each comprising the pair of targets 2A, 2B (2B is under 2A serially arranged in the vertical direction inside an outer cylinder 13 opposite the surface 4a of the substrate 4, which are arranged in parallel in the circumferential direction of the inner wall of the outer cylinder 13. By employing a method whereby voltage is applied while alternatively reversing the polarity to each of the targets 2A, 2B, it is possible to form a coating on the surface of a substrate by glow discharge sputtering, to accomplish destaticizing while the sputtering can be carried out using a small in-line or bell jar apparatus with small space.

Claims

1. A film-forming apparatus comprising

a film-forming substrate conveying device in a vacuum apparatus with an adjustable reduced pressure atmosphere,

a pair of magnetron sputtering cathodes located proximally to each other and situated in a straight line in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the substrate, with at least one row situated in the conveying direction of the substrate,

a pair of targets situated on said cathodes, a film-forming substrate positioned opposite said targets, and

a power source device that alternately reverses the polarity of said pair of cathodes so that when the first of said pair of cathodes is used as a negative electrode the second of said pair of cathodes is used as a positive electrode, and when the second of said pair of cathodes is used as a negative electrode the first of said pair of cathodes is used as a positive electrode, in order to apply a glow discharge-producing voltage to the pair of targets corresponding to each of said pair of cathodes, situated on the surface of each cathode.

2. A film-forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that a magnetron magnet is situated so that the average magnetic force at the border section between the pair of targets located proximally to each other is weaker than at the other sections, and so that the magnetic field at the erosion zones on the targets are equivalent at the sections near the border section and at the other sections.

3. A film-forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that a single continuous magnetic circuit is formed in said pair of targets.

4. A film-forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the substrate is situated in a rotatable manner at the center of a rotating axis in one longitudinal direction, and including a plurality of rows of target units, in which said pair of targets are situated opposite the surface of said substrate in a row in the longitudinal direction inside a cylinder vessel whose center axis is said rotating axis, and the plurality of rows of target units are arranged in parallel to the circumferential direction of the cylinder.

5. A film-forming method on a substrate being conveyed by sputtering targets on cathodes comprising

situating a pair of cathodes located proximally to each other in a straight line in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the substrate, with at least one row situated in the conveying direction of the substrate, situating a target on said cathode and a film-forming substrate positioned opposite said target, in a vacuum area that allows adjustment of a reduced pressure atmosphere to form a film on the surface of said substrate, and

alternately reversing the polarity of said pair of cathodes so that when the first of said pair of cathodes is used as a negative electrode the second of said pair of cathodes is used as a positive electrode, and when the second of said pair of cathodes is used as a negative electrode the first of said pair of cathodes is used as a positive electrode, in order to apply a glow discharge-producing voltage to a pair of targets corresponding to each of said pair of cathodes, situated on the surface of each cathode, and simultaneously sputtering said pair of targets by the produced glow discharge to form a film comprising the structural material of said targets on the surface of said substrate.

6. A film-forming method according to claim 5, characterized in that a magnetron magnet is situated also at the border section between said pair of targets, the magnetic field is corrected at said border section so that, from the viewpoint of only the magnetic field from the first target to the second target of the pair of targets, the average magnetic force at said border section is weaker than at the sections other than said border section, and so that the magnetic field at the erosion zones formed after adjacently situating the pair of targets are equivalent at the sections near the border section and at the other sections, and the difference in the film thickness between one area and another of the substrate in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the substrate obtained by the process of sputtering the entirety of said pair of targets is within a range of about ±

20% in the main film-forming region.

7. A film-forming method on a substrate being conveyed by sputtering targets on cathodes to claim 5, characterized in that a single continuous magnetic circuit is formed in said pair of targets, and the difference in the film thickness of the substrate in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the substrate obtained by the process of sputtering the entirety of said pair of targets is within a range of about ±

20% in the main film-forming region.