JP2000114189A - Vacuum processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent cracks and peeling of an oxide film layer 52, to prevent generation of particles, to prolong a life, to reduce a frequency of replacement, and to improve an operation rate. SOLUTION: Electrodes 13 and 14 for generating plasma are arranged in a vacuum processing chamber. An oxide film layer 52 is formed on the surfaces of the electrode bodies 13 and 14, and an alumina sprayed layer is formed on the surface of the oxide film layer 52.
53 is formed and multilayered. The surface of oxide film layer 52 is roughened by the surface treatment, and the bonding strength between oxide film layer 52 and alumina sprayed layer 53 is increased. The alumina sprayed layer 53 protects the oxide film layer 52 and prevents cracking and peeling of the oxide film layer 52.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus for performing processing using plasma.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a process of manufacturing an array substrate of a liquid crystal display device or a semiconductor device, a plasma C is used.
2. Description of the Related Art A vacuum processing apparatus for processing a thin film using plasma, such as a VD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) apparatus or a plasma etching apparatus, is used.

As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-190994, for example, such a vacuum processing apparatus includes a shower plate as one electrode, a heater plate as the other electrode, and a heater in a vacuum processing chamber. And the stage with the function of
During processing, the substrate is set on the stage, the vacuum processing chamber is evacuated, and a high-frequency power source is applied between the shower plate and the stage while the reaction gas is sprayed from the shower plate onto the substrate to turn the reaction gas into plasma. ,
A thin film is formed on a substrate or a thin film on a substrate is etched.

Further, when aluminum is used as a material for the shower plate and the stage, corrosion due to an etching gas poses a problem. However, by forming an oxide film on the surfaces of the shower plate and the stage by anodic oxidation or thermal oxidation, Try to reduce corrosion.

[0005] The etching gas is used for etching in a plasma etching apparatus and also for cleaning in a plasma CVD apparatus. In the case of a plasma CVD apparatus, an undesired film is formed on the surface of the shower plate and the stage at the same time as the film is formed on the substrate during the film forming process. The film on the surface of the shower plate and the stage is used for etching (cleaning).

[0006]

However, when performing a film forming process or an etching process, an insulating portion having an opening for covering a portion corresponding to the periphery of the substrate so as to prevent the unnecessary portion from being formed or etched. The mask of the nature is interposed between the shower plate and the stage, but the discharge in the portion where the mask is interposed also occurs through the opening of the mask, so the discharge concentrates near the inner edge of the opening of the mask, The concentration of the discharge deteriorates the oxide film on the shower plate and the stage, causing cracks and peeling of the oxide film, exposing the underlying aluminum, and causing particles.

Also, when the thickness of the oxide film is too large,
There is a problem that cracks and peeling easily occur in the oxide film and particles are generated.

For this reason, it is necessary to replace the shower plate and the stage with a small number of treatments, and there is a problem that the replacement frequency is high and the operation rate is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and prevents cracks and peeling of an oxide film layer, prevents generation of particles, prolongs the life and reduces the frequency of replacement, and reduces the operating rate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum processing apparatus with improved characteristics.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A vacuum processing apparatus according to the present invention is a vacuum processing apparatus for processing a substrate to be processed based on a plasma reaction, comprising: a vacuum processing chamber; and an electrode body disposed in the vacuum processing chamber. And an oxide film layer formed on the surface of the electrode body, and an alumina sprayed layer formed on the surface of the oxide film layer.

Then, an oxide film layer is formed on the surface of the electrode body, and an alumina sprayed layer is formed on the surface of the oxide film layer to form a multilayer structure. Cracks and peeling of the film layer are prevented to prevent generation of particles, and the service life is prolonged, the frequency of replacement is reduced, and the operation rate is improved.

Since the surface of the oxide film layer is roughened by the surface treatment, the bonding strength between the oxide film layer and the sprayed alumina layer is increased.

The surface treatment is a blast treatment, which makes it possible to roughen the oxide film layer.

The oxide film layer is an alumite layer, and the alumite layer is protected by an alumina sprayed layer to prevent cracking and peeling of the alumite layer.

The electrode body has a pair of electrodes disposed in a vacuum processing chamber, one of the electrodes is a shower plate for guiding a reaction gas, and the other electrode is a stage for supporting a substrate to be processed. Processing is performed by generating plasma between the shower plate and the stage.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a schematic structure of a vacuum processing apparatus such as a plasma CVD apparatus or a plasma etching apparatus for processing a thin film using plasma in a process of manufacturing a substrate B of a liquid crystal display device.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 denotes an apparatus main body of a vacuum processing apparatus. A vacuum processing chamber 12 is formed inside the apparatus main body 11, and a pair of electrode bodies are vertically opposed in the vacuum processing chamber 12.
13 and 14 are provided respectively.

The upper electrode body 13 has a plate-like shower plate 21 as one electrode.
A plurality of gas discharge holes 22 are formed vertically through the 21, and a peripheral portion of the shower plate 21 is held by a holder 23 and supported by the apparatus main body 11. On the upper surface of the shower plate 21, a duct 25 forming a space 24 communicating above the plurality of gas discharge holes 22 is air-tightly connected.
Are drawn out of the apparatus main body 11. Then, the reaction gas supplied from the reaction gas supply source fills the space 24 through the introduction path 26 of the duct 25, and
24 is blown downward through each gas discharge hole 22 of the shower plate 21.

The lower electrode body 14 has a stage 31 which functions as the other electrode and has a function of a heater. A substrate B is mounted on the stage 31, and the mounted substrate B Is kept warm so as not to lower the temperature by heating or contact. The stage 31 includes a heater plate 32 having a built-in heating element (not shown), and a heater base 33 supported on the apparatus body 11 side. The heater plate 32 is held by the heater base 33 by a holder 34.

The stage 31 is provided with a lifting mechanism 35 for raising and lowering the substrate B. The elevating mechanism 35 is provided at a plurality of positions on the stage 31 corresponding to the peripheral portion of the substrate B, and pins 37 are vertically inserted into through holes 36 formed coaxially with the heater plate 32 and the heater base 33. The pin 37 is movably arranged, and is moved up and down by driving means (not shown). When the pin 37 is raised, the pin 37 engages with the lower surface of the substrate B and moves up to a predetermined height position.

A high-frequency power is applied between a shower plate 21 of the upper electrode body 13 and a stage 31 of the lower electrode body 14 from a high-frequency power supply device (not shown).

A mask is provided between the upper and lower electrode bodies 13 and 14.
41 is held on the apparatus main body 11 by a holder 42. The mask 41 is formed of an insulating material such as ceramics, and has an opening corresponding to the outer peripheral shape of the substrate B.
43 are formed.

Further, an exhaust pipe of an exhaust device (not shown) for exhausting the inside of the vacuum processing chamber 12 is connected to the apparatus main body 11.

FIG. 1 shows the surface structures of the shower plate 21 and the holder 23 of the upper electrode body 13, the heater plate 32, the heater base 33 and the holder 34 of the stage 31 of the lower electrode body 14. FIG.

For the base material 51 of each of the electrode bodies 13 and 14, for example, aluminum is used as a material. On the surface of the base material 51, an alumite layer 52 is formed as an oxide film layer.
The alumite layer 52 is formed by anodization in which a film is formed by passing a current using the aluminum base material 51 as an anode, or thermal oxidation in which a film is formed by heating the aluminum base material 51 in an oxygen atmosphere. ing.

On the surface of the alumite layer 52, an alumina sprayed layer 53 sprayed with alumina is formed.

Since the surface of the alumite layer 52 has a high smoothness, the surface of the alumite layer 52 is roughened by, for example, blasting to obtain a sufficient bonding strength of the alumina sprayed layer 53 formed on the surface of the alumite layer 52. Surface treatment is performed.

Then, for example, about 30 μm
After forming the alumite layer 52 having a thickness of about m, about 10 μm of the surface of the alumite layer 52 is scraped off by surface treatment, and an alumina sprayed layer 53 having a thickness of about 200 μm is formed on the surface of the alumite layer 52. ing.

The base material 51 of the heater base 33 includes:
For example, a nickel alloy such as hastelloy may be used.

When the vacuum processing apparatus is used as a plasma etching apparatus, the substrate B having a thin film formed on its surface is set on the stage 31 and the inside of the vacuum processing chamber 12 is evacuated. The substrate B is raised to a predetermined height, and a high-frequency power is applied between the shower plate 21 and the stage 31 while blowing an etching gas as a reactive gas onto the substrate B from a plurality of gas discharge holes 22 of the shower plate 21 to generate plasma. Is generated, and the thin film on the surface of the substrate B is etched.

When the vacuum processing apparatus is used as a plasma CVD apparatus, the substrate B is set on the stage 31,
After evacuating the inside of the vacuum processing chamber 12, the elevating mechanism of the stage 31
The substrate B is raised to a predetermined height by 35 and the shower plate 21
A high-frequency power source is applied between the shower plate 21 and the stage 31 to generate plasma while spraying a reaction gas onto the substrate B from the plurality of gas discharge holes 22 to form a thin film on the surface of the substrate B.

In the case of this plasma CVD apparatus, the film is formed on the substrate B during the film forming process, and at the same time, the shower plate 21 is formed.
In addition, since a film is formed on the surface of the stage 31 as well, every time the film forming process is performed a predetermined number of times, the film on the surface of the shower plate 21 and the stage 31 is etched using an etching gas, similarly to the above-described etching process. (Cleaning process).

During the etching process, the surfaces of the shower plate 21 and the stage 31 are exposed to the plasma space. Since the surfaces of the shower plate 21 and the alumina sprayed layer 53 are formed in multiple layers, Corrosion due to etching gas can be reduced, and deterioration can be suppressed.

In addition, during the etching process, the insulating mask 41 is interposed between the shower plate 21 and the stage 31, and the discharge in the portion where the mask 41 is interposed is also performed.
Since the discharge is performed through the opening 43 of the mask 41, the discharge concentrates near the inner edge of the opening 43 of the mask 41, and the discharge concentration acts on the shower plate 21 and the stage 31, but the alumite layer 52 is protected by the alumina sprayed layer 53. As a result, cracks and peeling of the alumite layer 52 can be prevented.

Thus, the shower plate of the electrode body 13
The alumite layer 52 is formed on the surface of the stage 31 of the electrode assembly 14 and the like, and the alumina sprayed layer 53 is formed on the surface of the alumite layer 52, so that the alumite layer 52 is protected by the alumina sprayed layer 53. Then the anodized layer 52
Cracks and delamination can be prevented, preventing the generation of particles, extending the life and reducing the frequency of replacement,
The operation rate can be improved.

By subjecting the surface of the alumite layer 52 to a surface treatment such as blasting, the surface of the alumite layer 52 can be roughened even if the surface of the alumite layer 52 has a high degree of smoothness. The bonding strength with the alumina sprayed layer 53 can be sufficiently increased.

The surface treatment of the alumite layer 52 is not limited to the blast treatment. Even if the surface is roughened by another surface treatment method, the bonding strength between the alumite layer 52 and the alumina sprayed layer 53 can be sufficiently increased.

[0039]

According to the vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention, an oxide film layer is formed on the surface of the electrode body and an alumina sprayed layer is formed on the surface of the oxide film layer to form a multilayer. It is possible to protect the oxide film layer and prevent cracking and peeling of the oxide film layer, prevent generation of particles, extend the life, reduce the frequency of replacement, and improve the operation rate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a surface structure of an electrode body showing one embodiment of a vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a schematic structure of the vacuum processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 Vacuum processing chamber 13, 14 Electrode body 21 Shower plate 31 Stage 52 Alumite layer as oxide layer 53 Alumina sprayed layer

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum processing apparatus for processing a substrate to be processed based on a plasma reaction, comprising: a vacuum processing chamber; an electrode body disposed in the vacuum processing chamber; and an oxidization formed on a surface of the electrode body. A vacuum processing apparatus comprising: a film layer; and an alumina sprayed layer formed on a surface of the oxide film layer. 2. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the oxide film layer is roughened by a surface treatment. 3. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the surface treatment is blast processing. 4. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the oxide film layer is an alumite layer. 5. The electrode body has a pair of electrodes disposed in a vacuum processing chamber, one of the electrodes is a shower plate for guiding a reaction gas, and the other electrode is a stage for supporting a substrate to be processed. The vacuum processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: