JP2010177344A - Device for manufacturing thin film laminate - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a thin-film laminate manufacturing apparatus capable of suppressing the occurrence of drooping and wrinkles on a flexible substrate over a wide range while transporting a belt-like flexible substrate in a vertical posture and capable of manufacturing a high-quality product. To do.
An apparatus for manufacturing a thin film laminate, in which a thin film is formed on the surface of a substrate while the flexible substrate (1) is transported in a horizontal direction with the width direction set to a vertical direction, is provided on the upper side of the substrate. A plurality of pairs of upper clamping rollers (5) capable of feeding while holding the edge portion at a predetermined clamping pressure, and a plurality of lower pairs capable of feeding while holding the lower edge portion of the substrate at a predetermined clamping pressure. A plurality of pairs of upper clamping rollers, each of which has a declination angle (+ θ) in which the rotation direction of each clamping unit is obliquely upward with respect to the transport direction of the substrate. The plurality of pairs of lower clamping rollers are arranged in a straight line, and the rotation directions of the respective clamping parts are in a straight line with a declination angle (−θ) that goes obliquely downward with respect to the substrate transport direction. It is arranged.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing a thin film laminate such as a thin film photoelectric conversion element by forming a plurality of thin films on a strip-like flexible substrate.

  A rigid substrate is usually used as a substrate for a thin film laminate such as a semiconductor thin film. However, a flexible substrate such as a plastic film is used for the purpose of improving productivity and reducing costs due to the convenience of handling through a roll. May be used. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a plurality of strips arranged in the transport direction of the flexible substrate while intermittently transporting a strip-shaped flexible substrate (polyimide film) supplied from an unwinding roll at a predetermined pitch. An apparatus for manufacturing a thin film laminate in which a plurality of thin films having different properties are laminated on the flexible substrate and wound as a product roll in a film forming unit is disclosed.

JP 2005-72408 A

  In such a thin film laminate manufacturing apparatus, the film forming type is performed while the width direction of the belt-like flexible substrate is made to coincide with the horizontal direction, and the width direction of the belt-like flexible substrate is made to coincide with the vertical direction. There is a type in which a film is formed while being conveyed. The latter has advantages such as a smaller installation area and less contamination of the substrate surface than the former. However, if the transport span is increased, it becomes difficult to keep the transport height constant against gravity. The tendency that wrinkles occur on the surface of the flexible substrate or the flexible substrate hangs down becomes significant.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a device that grips the upper and lower side edges of a flexible substrate with a gripping member (pad) and pulls it in the width direction during a stop period in step conveyance of the flexible substrate. . However, since this apparatus repeatedly grips, pulls, and releases the flexible substrate, it is difficult to keep the conveyance height of the flexible substrate constant. It cannot be implemented in a continuous film forming apparatus that forms a film while being conveyed.

  Therefore, the upper and lower clamping rollers that sandwich the upper and lower side edges of the flexible substrate are disposed between the film forming units, and the rotation direction of the clamping unit of each clamping roller depends on the conveyance direction of the flexible substrate. The upper and lower side edges of the flexible substrate are subjected to upward and downward lifting and lowering forces so as to have an oblique angle upward and downward with respect to the height of the flexible substrate. An apparatus for manufacturing a thin film laminate that can adjust the thickness has been developed.

  In this apparatus, the lifting force (lowering force) with respect to the upper edge (lower edge) of the flexible substrate is related to the deflection angle and clamping pressure of the clamping roller. Increasing the pressure increases the lifting force (lowering force). At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the flexible substrate 1 tends to be twisted around the pinching roller 50 in the vicinity of the pinching roller. Therefore, in order to spread wrinkles and slack that occur in a wider range, the pinching roller When a plurality of slabs are installed in the substrate transport direction, the stretching action of the individual clamping rollers interferes with each other, and a new problem arises that a stretching effect corresponding to the equipment cannot be obtained.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and its purpose is to extend the occurrence of drooping and wrinkles on a flexible substrate while conveying the belt-like flexible substrate in a vertical position. An object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing apparatus for a thin film laminate that can be suppressed and can manufacture a high-quality product.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a film-formation unit installed in a transport path of the substrate while transporting the strip-shaped flexible substrate in the horizontal direction with the width direction being the vertical direction. In the apparatus for manufacturing a thin film laminate in which a thin film is formed on the surface of the substrate, a plurality of pairs of upper clamping rollers capable of being fed while clamping the upper edge of the substrate with a predetermined clamping pressure, and the lower side of the substrate A plurality of pairs of lower sandwiching rollers capable of being fed while sandwiching the edge portion with a predetermined sandwiching pressure, wherein the plurality of pairs of upper sandwiching rollers are configured such that the rotation direction of each of the sandwiching portions is in the transport direction of the substrate. The plurality of pairs of lower nip rollers are arranged in a straight line with a declination that is obliquely upward with respect to the plurality of pairs of lower nip rollers. Be arranged in a straight line with corners And features.

  In the thin film laminate manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, as described above, the plurality of sandwiching rollers (5, 5 ′) sandwiching the upper and lower sides of the flexible substrate are declinated (± θ ) And are arranged in a straight line, so that the generation of wrinkles due to the mutual interference of the stretching action is prevented, and the stretching tension by the adjacent clamping rollers on each side acts continuously in the same direction. A large tension can be stably obtained over a wide range, and it is possible to cope with local tension expansion such as a heating basket.

  In the present invention, the plurality of pairs of upper clamping rollers and the plurality of pairs of lower clamping rollers have the same number of clamping rollers (5, 5 ') on the upper and lower sides at the same position with respect to the substrate transport direction. In the provided aspect, the above-described stable tension can be applied in the same phase from the upper and lower sides of the flexible substrate, so that the tension can be applied uniformly in the transport direction and the vertical width direction. .

  In the present invention, the plurality of pairs of upper sandwiching rollers and the plurality of pairs of lower sandwiching rollers are supported by a common roller frame (55, 55 ′) extending in the arrangement direction of the sandwiching rollers. By adjusting the mounting angle of each roller frame, it is possible to set the deflection angles of multiple pairs of sandwiching rollers all at once, making it easy to adjust the tension even when multiple sandwiching rollers are installed side by side. Can do.

It is a schematic side view which shows one film-forming part of the manufacturing apparatus which concerns on this invention embodiment. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. (A) is a principal part enlarged view of FIG. 1, (b) is a bottom view of (a). It is a schematic side view which shows the expansion effect | action in the edge part of the flexible substrate clamped by one clamping roller.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show one film forming unit 2 in an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a continuous film forming type thin film laminate manufacturing apparatus. The thin-film laminate manufacturing apparatus transports the strip-shaped flexible substrate 1 (flexible film) in the horizontal direction with the width direction set to the vertical direction, and at least one component arranged in parallel along the transport path. In the film part 2, a thin film is laminated on the surface of the flexible substrate 1.

  Guide rolls 3 and 4 for guiding the flexible substrate 1 to the film forming unit 2 are disposed on the upstream side and the downstream side in the transport direction of the film forming unit 2, and on the upstream side and the downstream side in the transport direction, An unwinding / winding roll for the flexible substrate 1 is disposed via a feed roller and a tension roller that constitute the conveying means. As a drive system such as a feed roller and an unwinding / winding roll, a driving system that can be driven in both forward and reverse directions is employed to cope with the reciprocating film forming process. The film forming unit 2 and the transporting unit are disposed in a vacuum chamber maintained at a predetermined degree of vacuum, and the basic configuration is the same as that of the prior art, so that illustration is omitted.

  The film forming unit 2 is composed of a vapor deposition apparatus for performing chemical vapor deposition such as plasma CVD or physical vapor deposition such as sputtering, and is disposed opposite to both sides of the flexible substrate 1 as shown in FIG. Electrode 21 (high frequency electrode or target) and a ground electrode 22 with a built-in heater. The electrode 21 and the ground electrode 22 are fixedly arranged with a predetermined gap with respect to the flexible substrate 1 and are configured to perform continuous film formation without contact.

  The flexible substrate 1 is stretched between the guide rolls 3 and 4 given a predetermined transport tension by a transport means, and is transported through the film forming unit 2 while being heated by the heater. As described above, tension and heating wrinkles are likely to occur near the center, and droop due to their own weight can occur. Therefore, in order to control the position of the flexible substrate 1 in the vertical direction in the film forming unit 2 and maintain the transport height constant, the flexible substrate 1 extends in the vertical width direction, so A plurality of (six pairs in the upper and lower sides in FIG. 1) clamping roller pairs 5 and 5 ′ are arranged side by side along the conveyance direction F.

  The upper and lower sandwiching roller pairs 5 and 5 ′ have basically the same structure. As shown in FIG. 2, a fixed roller 51 and a movable roller 52 sandwich the upper and lower side edges of the flexible substrate 1. It is configured. The fixed roller 51 and the movable roller 52 are rotatably supported via bearings at lower ends (roller support shafts) of the fixed side and movable side support members 53 and 54 so as to receive a thrust load, respectively.

  The fixed side support member 53 is fixed to one side of a roller frame 55 (55 ') common to the upper and lower sides at the intermediate portion thereof, and the movable side support member 54 is fixed to the other side of the roller frame 55 (55'). However, the shaft 54a is supported so as to be swingable in a direction in which it is in contact with and away from the fixed-side support member 53. Further, a spring 56 (compression spring) is interposed between the upper end portions 53 b and 54 b of the fixed side support member 53 and the movable side support member 54 extending upward from the roller frame 55. The movable side support member 54 is urged by the generated force, and the movable roller 52 is configured to be pressed against the fixed roller 51.

  An adjustment screw 56a is provided between one end of the spring 56 and the upper end portion 53b of the fixed side support member 53, and the adjustment screw 56a is rotated to adjust the initial displacement of the spring 56. Thus, the pressing force of the pair of sandwiching rollers 5, 5 ′ (51, 52), that is, the sandwiching force with respect to the flexible substrate 1 can be adjusted.

  The pair of sandwiching rollers 5, 5 'are parallel to each other in the axial direction with respect to the roller frames 55, 55', and the rotational directions of the sandwiching surfaces of the pair of sandwiching rollers 5, 5 'are in a straight line. It is supported to be arranged, and has a predetermined inclination angle (declination angle ± θ) toward obliquely upward (5) / diagonally downward (5 ′) with respect to the conveyance direction F of the flexible substrate 1. These are attached to the fixed frame portion 20 of the electrode 21 via brackets 57, 57 'provided in the center.

  At this time, the roller frames 55 and 55 ′ are attached to the fixed frame portion 20 so that the attachment angle can be adjusted, and the deflection angle (± θ) at the clamping surface of each clamping roller pair 5 and 5 ′, that is, the roller rotation at the clamping surface It is preferable that the angle with respect to the conveyance direction F can be adjusted all at once. In this case, for example, a fixing means such as a bolt capable of fixing the roller frames 55 and 55 'at a position shifted in the longitudinal direction from the brackets 57 and 57', and the fixing position thereof are vertically moved around the brackets 57 and 57 '. What is necessary is just to use the circular arc hole which makes it movable.

  Next, the operation based on the above embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In the continuous film formation process, the flexible substrate 1 is guided by the guide rolls 3 and 4 and continuously conveyed in the conveyance direction F toward the left in FIG. A predetermined thin film is formed on the surface of the flexible substrate 1 by passing between the electrode 21 and the ground electrode 22. At this time, the edges on the upper and lower sides of the flexible substrate 1 are sent out while being sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching rollers 5 and 5 ′ arranged in parallel in the transport direction F, and on the sandwiching surfaces of the pair of sandwiching rollers. The rotation direction has a predetermined declination (± θ) directed obliquely upward (5) / diagonally downward (5 ′) with respect to the transport direction F, respectively, so that the edges on the upper and lower sides of the flexible substrate 1 Thus, the lifting / lowering force is continuously applied to the flexible substrate 1, and the flexible substrate 1 is continuously stretched in the vertical width direction.

  In particular, the rotational directions of the clamping surfaces of the respective clamping roller pairs 5, 5 'are arranged in a straight line, so that the extending action of the adjacent individual clamping roller pairs 5, 5' is prevented from interfering with each other, A plurality of sandwiching roller pairs 5 and 5 ′ can apply a continuous tension to the edges on the upper and lower sides of the flexible substrate 1 over a wide range. It becomes possible to extend without difficulty.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, In addition to the above, various deformation | transformation and a change are further possible based on the technical idea of this invention. .

  For example, in each of the above embodiments, the case where the compression spring (56) is used as the urging means has been shown. However, by appropriately changing the connection point for the fixed side and movable side support members (53, 54), the tension spring can be used. It can also be configured. Further, the spring (56) may be changed to various springs such as a spiral spring, a torsion spring, and a leaf spring other than the coil spring. Further, the form in which the fixed side and movable side support members (53, 54) contact and separate from each other can be replaced by linear sliding, but efficient swinging (pivot rotation) is advantageous. .

  In each of the above embodiments, one of each pair of sandwiching rollers is a fixed roller. However, both sandwiching rollers may be movable rollers, in which case each support member (53, 54) is both It can be implemented in a form that it is swingably supported by the roller frame (55, 55 '). In the above-described embodiment, the case where six pairs of sandwiching rollers 5 and 5 'are arranged in parallel at equal intervals on each of the upper and lower sides has been shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the pair of sandwiching rollers 5 and 5' The number of 5 'arranged side by side can be set as appropriate, and the roller frame (55, 55') may be set for each of a plurality of groups arranged in proximity to each other with two pairs (or a plurality of pairs) as one group. In addition, when the influence of the own weight should be taken into consideration, different declination angles (± θ) can be set on the upper and lower sides.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is implemented in a continuous film forming process in which a film forming process is performed while continuously conveying a flexible substrate is shown, but the present invention is not limited thereto. It is also possible to carry out a step film formation process in which the flexible substrate is conveyed intermittently and the film formation process is performed in each film formation unit during the stop period.

  The present invention can be applied to a manufacturing apparatus and a processing apparatus for various thin film stacks using a flexible substrate, such as a semiconductor thin film such as an organic EL, in addition to a thin film stack manufacturing apparatus for solar cells.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Flexible substrate 2 Film-forming part 3, 4 Guide roll 5, 5 'Holding roller pair 20 Fixed frame part 21 Electrode 22 Ground electrode 51 Fixed roller 52 Movable roller 53 Fixed side support member 54 Movable side support member 55 Roller frame 56 Spring 56a Adjustment screw

Claims (3)

A thin film stack in which a thin film is stacked on the surface of the substrate in a film forming section installed in the substrate transport path while transporting a strip-shaped flexible substrate in the horizontal direction with the width direction set to the vertical direction In the body manufacturing equipment,
A plurality of pairs of upper clamping rollers that can be fed while holding the upper edge of the substrate at a predetermined clamping pressure, and a plurality of pairs that can be fed while holding the lower edge of the substrate at a predetermined clamping pressure. A lower clamping roller,
The plurality of pairs of upper sandwiching rollers are arranged on a straight line with a declination in which the rotation direction of each sandwiching portion is obliquely upward with respect to the substrate transport direction, and the plurality of pairs of lower sandwiching rollers are The apparatus for manufacturing a thin film laminate, wherein the rotation direction of each sandwiching portion is arranged in a straight line with a declination obliquely downward with respect to the substrate transport direction.   The plurality of pairs of upper sandwiching rollers and the plurality of pairs of lower sandwiching rollers have the same number of sandwiching rollers disposed on the upper and lower sides at the same position in the transport direction of the substrate. Item 2. A thin film laminate manufacturing apparatus according to Item 1. 3. The plurality of pairs of upper nip rollers and the plurality of pairs of lower nip rollers are supported by a common roller frame extending in the arrangement direction of the respective nip rollers. Thin film laminate manufacturing equipment.

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