JPH1161383A - High vacuum thin film forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thin film forming device free from the application of damage and the intrusion of impurities and good in film thickness controllability. SOLUTION: To an electrically conductive vapor depositing material provided on a cathode 40 in a thin film forming device, in a state in which positive voltage is applied to an anode 30, an electrode member 42 arranged in the vicinity of the vapor depositing material 43 is applied with pulse-shaped voltage to generate trigger discharge, and arc discharge is induced on the space between the vapor depositing material 43 and the anode 30. It is constituted in such a manner that, by the arc discharge induced by the trigger discharge for one time, the fine particles of the vapor depositing material 43 are released by a prescribed amt. In the case trigger discharge is repeatedly generated by required times in a high vacuum atmosphere, extremely thin film free from impurities and damage can be formed with high film thickness precision. Moreover, in the case plural vapor depositing sources are oriented toward a substrate 4 and thin film is successively formed, multilayer film can be obtd., therefore, it is suitable for the formation of magnetic thin film.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a thin film forming apparatus, and more particularly to a high vacuum thin film forming apparatus suitable for forming a magnetic thin film.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, thin films have been used in various fields such as semiconductor devices and liquid crystal devices, and various thin films such as insulating thin films and magnetic thin films have been formed in addition to metal thin films.

[0005] Reference numeral 105 in FIG. 5 is a prior art sputtering apparatus used for forming a multilayer thin film, and has a vacuum chamber 110 composed of a metal cylindrical container 111, an upper lid 112 a, and a lower lid 112 b. I have.

A rotary shaft 126 is hermetically inserted into the vacuum chamber 110 from a hole 125 provided in the upper lid 112a.
A shutter 115, a substrate holder 116, and a heater 117 are attached to the rotating shaft 126 in this order from below.

[0005] A vacuum evacuation system 123 and a gas introduction system 124 are connected to the cylindrical container 111. When forming a multilayer thin film, first, a plurality of substrates to be formed are mounted on a substrate holder 116. Then, the evacuation system 123 is activated, the inside of the vacuum chamber 110 is evacuated to a pressure of about 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ Torr, and then the argon gas is introduced by the gas introduction system 124 while controlling the flow rate.

[0006] A plurality of cathode targets 121 are arranged on the lower lid 112b. When the pressure in the vacuum chamber 110 is stabilized at a pressure of about 1 × 10 ^-2 Torr, a negative voltage is applied to each cathode target 121. Apply.

[0007] The shutter 115 and the substrate holder 116 are placed at the ground potential, and when a discharge is started between each cathode target 121 and the substrate holder 116, the shutter 115 and each cathode target 121 are discharged.
, An argon gas plasma is generated. The sputtering of each cathode target 121 is started by the plasma.

In FIG. 5, five cathode targets 121 are shown. Here, different materials are arranged, and different thin films are laminated on the surface of the substrate 104 to form a multilayer thin film. And

The shutter 11 of the sputtering apparatus 105
5 has a collimator (hole) 119 having substantially the same size as the substrate.
Is provided, and the collimator 119 and the substrate 104 are positioned directly above the cathode target 121 on which the first-layer thin film material is provided.

In this state, the heater 117 is energized, and the substrate 1
While heating the substrate 04, the collimator 119 and the substrate 104 are stopped for a predetermined time to form a first thin film.

After forming the first thin film, the rotating shaft 126
Is rotated to move the collimator 119 and the substrate 104 together just above the cathode target 121 of the second layer, and stop it there for a predetermined time to form a thin film of the second layer.

According to the same procedure, third to fifth thin films are sequentially formed on the first and second thin films.
The substrate holder 116 and the shutter 115 are moved relative to each other, and the undeposited substrate 104 and the collimator 119 are positioned directly above the first layer cathode target 121, and a new deposition operation on the surface of the substrate 104 is started.

As described above, after forming a multilayer thin film composed of five thin films on the surface of the plurality of substrates 104 mounted on the substrate holder 116, the evacuation system 123 is stopped, and the vacuum exhaust system 123 is moved out of the vacuum chamber 110. When unloaded, a multilayer thin film can be efficiently formed on a large number of substrates.

However, the sputtering apparatus 105 as described above
In this case, the pressure during sputtering needs to be 1 × 10 ⁻³ Torr or more. Since the thin film is formed on the substrate 104 in a relatively high pressure atmosphere, impurities in the sputtering gas Will be taken into. Further, the plasma at the time of performing the sputtering is applied to the vacuum chamber 110.
To spread inside, the inner wall of the vacuum chamber 110 is sputtered,
It becomes impurity particles and enters the thin film. Furthermore, since the substrate is exposed to the plasma, there is a problem that the thin film is damaged.

In particular, when a voltage is applied to each of the cathode targets 121 to form plasma, the cathode targets 121 made of a material different from the thin film material to be formed are also sputtered. Particles of a material different from the material slightly pass through the collimator 119 and become impurity particles to be mixed into the thin film.

When the multilayer thin film to be formed is a magnetic thin film, for example, T
a, NiFe, Cu, Co, FeMn materials are arranged, and thin films made of these materials are laminated one by one on the substrate surface. However, since the magnetic characteristics of the magnetic thin film are sensitive to impurities and damage, plasma is used. Therefore, a technique that can form a high-purity thin film without impurities or damage is required.

An apparatus capable of forming a thin film of a magnetic alloy as described above without using a plasma is conventionally provided with an arc evaporation source 220 and a substrate holder 216 in a vacuum chamber 210 as shown in FIG. A vapor deposition apparatus 205 is known.

The arc evaporation source 220 is connected to the cathode electrode 22.
1 and an anode electrode 222, and a vapor deposition material, which is a thin film material, is disposed on the surface of the cathode electrode 221.

When a thin film is formed by the vapor deposition device 205, the substrate 204 is mounted on the substrate holder 216, the inside of the vacuum chamber 210 is evacuated from the exhaust port 217, and then, if necessary, the discharge is performed from the gas inlet port 218. Then, a bias gas is introduced, a bias power supply 225 and an arc power supply 226 are activated, and a negative voltage is applied to the substrate holder 216.

The tip of the anode electrode 222 is disposed in the vicinity of the deposition material. When a negative voltage is applied to the cathode electrode 221 and a positive voltage is applied to the anode electrode 222, an arc discharge occurs between them and an arc current flows. Then, the evaporation material on the surface of the cathode electrode 221 evaporates instantaneously.

At the time of the evaporation, the fine particles evaporated from the surface of the deposition material are ionized and given a positive charge. Therefore, when a negative voltage is applied to the substrate holder 216, the fine particles are deposited on the substrate 204. It is attracted and deposited on the surface of the substrate 204 to form a thin film.

Since no plasma is used in such an evaporation source 220, no damage is applied to the thin film.
Further, there is an advantage that the material forming the vacuum chamber 210 does not become an impurity and enter the thin film.

However, in the above-described evaporation source 220, the inside of the vacuum chamber 210 cannot be set to a high vacuum atmosphere in order to maintain stable arc discharge. Therefore, the vacuum chamber 21
There is a problem in that impurities in the discharge gas introduced into the gas chamber are taken into the thin film.

In addition, when minute particles of the vapor deposition material are generated by arc discharge, giant particles of the vapor deposition material are also released,
There is a problem that the fine particles reach the surface of the substrate 204 together with the fine particles and deteriorate the quality of the thin film.

On the other hand, the above-mentioned sputtering apparatus 105 and vapor deposition apparatus 205 have an advantage that they are suitable for high-speed film formation.
When forming a thin film to a certain extent, the film is grown while monitoring the film thickness using a film thickness monitor, and a thin film having a desired film thickness is obtained. Conversely, when a very thin film is formed,
There is a disadvantage that the film thickness monitor cannot accurately detect the film thickness. Therefore, when a very thin thin film is formed, the film forming rate is determined in advance, and the film thickness is controlled by calculating the film thickness backward from the film forming time. Problem.

In recent years, a magnetic thin film in which a magnetic layer and an antiferromagnetic layer are laminated has been used to form a magnetoresistive element (MR) of a hard disk drive. In the case of such a magnetic thin film, Since the film thickness of each layer is as thin as about several nanometers, accurate film thickness control cannot be performed by film thickness control based on the film formation time.

[0027]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art, and has as its object to form a multilayer thin film that may be damaged or mixed with impurities. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thin film forming apparatus that does not need to be performed. Another object of the present invention is to provide a thin film forming apparatus having good controllability of the thickness of a multilayer thin film.

[0028]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus, comprising: an anode and a cathode, wherein a conductive deposition material provided on the cathode is positively applied to the anode. In a state where a voltage is applied, when a pulsed voltage is applied between the electrode member and the vapor deposition material disposed in the vicinity of the vapor deposition material to generate a trigger discharge, a gap is generated between the vapor deposition material and the anode. A thin film having a deposition source configured to induce arc discharge, and forming a thin film by adhering fine particles of the deposition material emitted by the arc discharge to a substrate surface arranged in a vacuum chamber A forming device configured to discharge a predetermined amount of fine particles of the vapor deposition material by an arc discharge induced by one trigger discharge, and to repeatedly generate the trigger discharge, Characterized in that it is configured to be formed with a film thickness.

When a plurality of the vapor deposition sources are provided in the thin film forming apparatus according to the first aspect, as in the second aspect,
It is preferable that the center axis of the cathode of each of the vapor deposition sources is directed to the same substrate disposed in the vacuum chamber.

According to the configuration of the present invention described above, the evaporation source has the anode and the cathode, the cathode is provided with a conductive evaporation material, and the electrode member is arranged near the evaporation material. I have.

When a pulse-like voltage is applied to the anode between the electrode member and the deposition material while a positive voltage is applied to the deposition material, an insulating cylinder or the like disposed between the deposition material and the electrode member. A trigger discharge is generated on the surface of the insulating member described above, and the trigger discharge first releases fine particles of the deposition material. When the fine particles are filled between the anode and the deposition material, the insulating property is reduced, and an arc discharge is induced between the anode and the deposition material.

The current flowing by the arc discharge is a large current, and a large amount of fine particles of the vapor deposition material are emitted from the vapor deposition material. The microparticles are positively charged and are emitted in various directions, but the electric current flowing through the deposition material by arc discharge causes a magnetic field that exerts a force on the positively charged microparticles away from the deposition material. To form

The force generated by the magnetic field is in the direction along the central axis of the cathode, and the fine particles having a large charge-to-mass ratio are strongly accelerated in the direction of the substrate by the force. Fly towards. The acceleration for neutral particles and giant particles with a small charge-to-mass ratio is weak. Since the place where arc discharge occurs between the deposition material and the anode is inside the anode, neutral particles and giant particles collide with and adhere to the anode and are not released into the vacuum chamber.

Therefore, since only the fine particles can reach the substrate, neutral particles and giant particles are not mixed into the thin film, and a thin film having a good film quality can be formed by the fine particles having a uniform particle diameter.

In this case, it is necessary to supply a large current in order to maintain the arc discharge. However, when the arc discharge is induced and the arc current starts flowing, the arc is reduced when the voltage of the power supply supplying the arc current decreases. Discharge stops. When the arc discharge stops, the power supply voltage recovers in a predetermined time. Accordingly, the arc discharge is automatically stopped after an arc discharge current according to the power supply capability flows by one trigger discharge, so that the amount of the vapor deposition material corresponding to the supply amount of the arc current of the power supply is reduced from the vapor deposition material. Microparticles are released, and a thin film with a film thickness corresponding to the amount of the released is formed on the substrate surface. Therefore, if a trigger discharge is repeatedly generated, a thin film with a desired film thickness can be formed on the substrate surface. Becomes

In order to make the thickness of the thin film formed by one arc discharge constant, the time during which the arc current is supplied may be controlled.

As described above, since the arc discharge is induced by the fine particles released by the trigger discharge, it is not necessary to introduce a discharge-inducing gas into the vacuum chamber. Further, no plasma is used for forming the thin film, and there is no need to introduce a plasma gas.

Therefore, according to the thin film forming apparatus of the present invention,
Under a high vacuum atmosphere, a thin film free from impurities and damage can be obtained.

When a multilayer film such as a magnetic thin film is formed, a plurality of evaporation sources on which the evaporation materials of the individual thin films in the multilayer film are arranged are provided, and fine particles of the evaporation material are sequentially discharged from each evaporation source. It is necessary to release and stack the thin films.

In the vapor deposition source of the present invention, the ionized fine particles of the vapor deposition material are accelerated in the direction of the central axis of the cathode by the magnetic field formed by the arc current, and are discharged in a high vacuum atmosphere having a large mean free path. Therefore, the fine particles fly straight from the cathode toward the substrate in the deposition material. Therefore, in order to form a thin film on the same substrate by a plurality of deposition sources, it is preferable that the center axis of the cathode of each deposition source be directed toward the same substrate.

[0041]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Reference numeral 5 in FIG. 1 denotes a thin film forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It has a vacuum chamber 10 composed of an upper lid 12a and a lower lid 12b. A hole (not shown) is provided in the upper lid 12a, and a rotation shaft 26 is hermetically inserted into the vacuum chamber 10 through the hole.

The substrate holder 16 and the heater 17 are attached to the tip of the rotating shaft 26 in this order from below, and are located near the upper lid 12a in the vacuum chamber 10.

A vacuum evacuation system 23 and a gas introduction system 24 are connected to the cylindrical container 11. When the vacuum evacuation system 23 is operated to evacuate, the inside of the vacuum chamber 10 is 1 × 10 ⁻⁷ Torr.
It is configured so that a high vacuum atmosphere with the following pressure can be created.

[0044] the lower lid 12b, the code 21 ₁ to 21 evaporation source 5 groups indicated by ₅ is attached. Each evaporation source 21 _1-
21 ₅ are arc evaporation source is ignited by pulsed voltage, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), an anode 30 where the metal material is formed by molding into a cylindrical shape, arranged inside the anode 30 And a cathode 40.

The cathode 40 includes an insulating tube 41 made of an insulating material formed into a cylindrical shape, a ring-shaped electrode member 42 closely attached to the outer peripheral portion of the end of the insulating tube 41, Columnar evaporation material 43 inserted in the open part
And

The cathode 40 is disposed in a state in which the cathode 40 is not in contact with the anode electrode 30, and is located behind the open end of the anode electrode 30. The vapor deposition material 43 and the electrode member 42 are in a non-contact state. The vapor deposition material 43 has one end protruding from the open end of the insulating tube 41 and the other end located inside the insulating tube 41. The other end of the vapor deposition material 43 is electrically connected to a conductor 44 provided in the insulating tube 41, and the electrode member 42 is connected to a conductor 44 disposed between the insulating tube 41 and the anode 30. Is electrically connected to

A trigger power supply 46 and an arc power supply 47 are disposed outside the vacuum chamber 10. A terminal on the positive potential side of the trigger power supply 46 is connected to each evaporation source 21 via a conductor 44.
It is configured to be connected to the electrode member 42 of the desired evaporation source of ₁ to 21 _5. The terminal on the negative potential side of the trigger power supply 46 is connected to the vapor deposition material 43 via the conductor 45.

The anode 30 in each of the evaporation sources 21 _{1 to} 21 ₅ is configured to be selectively connected to a terminal on the positive potential side of the arc power supply 47, and the terminal on the negative potential side is connected to the aforementioned terminal. It is connected to the evaporation material 43 via a conductor 45.

[0049] The central axis 28 _{1-28 5} the anode 30 and cathode 40 of each deposition source 21 ₁ to 21 _5, the substrate holder 1
6 are arranged so as to intersect at a substantially central position, and the substrate 4 can be mounted on the substrate holder 16 with that position as the center.

When a magnetic thin film having a spin valve structure is formed using this thin film forming apparatus 5, for example, Ta, N
Each evaporation source 21 _{1 is} made of iFe, Cu, Co, and FeMn.
To 21 ₅ , the glass substrate 4 on which the film is to be formed is mounted on the substrate holder 16, and the shutter 15 is positioned between the substrate 4 and each of the vapor deposition sources 21 _{1 to} 21 ₅ . . In that state, start the evacuation system 23,
The inside of the vacuum chamber 10 is evacuated to a pressure of about 1 × 10 ^-1 Torr by the low vacuum pump 33, and then the heater 17 is energized while further evacuating by the high vacuum pump 34 to heat the substrate 4 to a predetermined temperature. I do.

[0051] When the internal vacuum chamber 10 is in the high vacuum atmosphere of about 1 × 10 ^-7 Torr, and a deposition material 43 composed of Ta in the evaporation source 21 ₁ and the electrode member 42 is connected to the trigger power supply 46 The anode 30 of the evaporation source 21 ₁
Is connected to the arc power supply 47.

The trigger power supply 46 is activated with the shutter 15 opened and a positive voltage applied to the anode 30 and a negative voltage applied to the vapor deposition material 43 by the arc power supply 47.
When a positive pulse voltage is applied to the electrode member 42 with respect to
Fig As shown in 2 (b), trigger discharge at the end surface of the insulating tube 41 (creeping discharge) is generated, flows trigger current i _1.

The trigger current i ₁ causes the deposition material 43
Is evaporated and the ionized Ta microparticles 51 are released from the surface, the withstand voltage between the anode 30 and the deposition material 43 is reduced, and an arc discharge is induced between the anode electrode 30 and the deposition material 43. Then, the arc current i ₂ starts flowing through the vapor deposition material 43.

Since the arc current i ₂ is a large current,
The vapor deposition material 43 is evaporated and ionized Ta microparticles 5
1 is released in large quantities in various directions.

A deposition material 43 of each of the deposition sources 21 _{1 to} 21 ₅ ;
The conductor 44 provided inside the insulating tube 42 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and the arc current i ₂ flows straight through the deposition material 43 and the conductor 44 in the cathode 40. The magnetic field generated around the cathode 40 by the arc current i ₂ causes the charged particles having a positive charge to have a direction opposite to the direction in which the arc current i ₂ flows, that is, the cathode 4.
A force F is applied in a direction away from the vapor deposition material 43 along the central axis direction of zero.

[0056] By this force F, microparticles ionized Ta along the central axis 28 ₁ of the anode 30, linearly emitted monkey in the vacuum chamber 10 from the anode 30 opening.
The substrate 4 is arranged in the direction of the center axis 28 ₁
The fine particles fly in the direction of the substrate 4 and form a Ta thin film when deposited on the surface thereof.

When the Ta microparticles are released, the Ta giant particles 52 are also released at the same time.
Is an uncharged neutral particle or has a small charge amount even if it is charged, so that the charge-to-mass ratio of the giant particle 52 is smaller than the charge-to-mass ratio of the microparticle 51, The influence is small and it collides with and adheres to the anode 30 and is not released into the vacuum chamber 10.

While the arc current i ₂ is flowing, fine particles of Ta are released. However, since the arc current i ₂ is a large current, the voltage of the arc power supply 47 decreases due to the flow of the arc current i ₂ , If can not maintain arc discharge, automatically arc current i ₂ is stopped. Therefore, the amount of Ta fine particles released by one trigger discharge is
Since it is determined by the power supply capability of the arc power supply 47, trigger discharge is performed the number of times that a desired film thickness is obtained, an arc discharge is repeatedly generated, and a Ta thin film is grown.

[0059] When the thin film of the first layer made of Ta film on the substrate 4 is formed on the surface, disassociate and a trigger power supply 46 and arc power supply 47 from the evaporation source 21 ₁ Ta is disposed, NiF
e is connected to the evaporation source 21 ₂ side arranged.

[0060] Then, as in the case of the deposition source 21 ₁ of the Ta, the number of times a predetermined film thickness is obtained to generate a trigger discharge and ionized by the induced arc discharge N
Fine particles of iFe are attached to the substrate 4 to form a NiFe thin film having a predetermined thickness on the surface of the Ta thin film.

As described above, Ta, NiFe, Cu, C
o, the central axis 28 _{1-28 5} of the cathode 40 (and anode 30) of the deposition source 21 ₁ to 21 ₅ which deposition material 43 made of FeMn are arranged is directed to the substrate four directions, each evaporation source 21 ₁ to 21 ₅ is released into the vacuum chamber 10 from, the microparticles of the deposition material is accelerated by the magnetic field, to fly toward the substrate 4 direction, attached to the substrate 4.

Therefore, for each of the evaporation sources 21 _{1 to} 21 ₅ ,
The trigger power supply 46 and the arc power supply 47 are connected in sequence while switching, and a trigger discharge is generated as many times as a predetermined film thickness can be obtained.
On the surface, from the lower layer, Ta, NiFe, Cu, Co, F
eMn thin films are deposited in that order to form a magnetic thin film.

Although each thin film has a very small thickness, the thickness of the thin film formed per trigger discharge is measured in advance, and for example, a thin film having a thickness of 0.1 nm is formed per trigger discharge. In order to form a thin film having a thickness of 5 nm, 50 pulse discharges may be performed. in this case,
Assuming that the interval between trigger discharges is 1 second, 50 nm is 5 nm in 50 seconds.
Can be formed.

After forming a multilayer thin film composed of five thin films in this way, the heater 17 and the vacuum exhaust system 23 are stopped, and nitrogen gas for venting is introduced into the vacuum chamber 10 by the gas introduction system 124, and the vacuum When the pressure in the tank 10 reaches the atmospheric pressure, the substrate 4 is carried out to the atmosphere from a carry-out port (not shown).

FIG. 3 shows the state of lamination of the magnetic thin film having the spin valve structure formed on the surface of the substrate 4. Thin films denoted by reference numerals 61 to 65 are Ta, NiFe, Cu, Co, and F, respectively.
eMn thin films, and each of the thin films 61 to 65 has a thickness of 5n.
m, 10 nm, 2.5 nm, 2.2 nm and 11 nm. The Ta thin film 61, the Cu thin film 63, and the FeMn thin film 65 are antiferromagnetic thin films, and the NiFe thin film 62, the Co thin film 64
Is a magnetic thin film.

As described above, since the amount of the fine particles of the vapor deposition material emitted by one arc discharge is constant, the thickness of the thin film to be formed can be controlled by the number of times the trigger discharge is generated. In addition, only a small amount of fine particles of the vapor deposition material is emitted by one arc discharge, so that an extremely thin thin film can be formed with high film thickness accuracy.

Further, since a thin film can be formed in a high vacuum atmosphere without introducing a gas such as a sputtering gas into the vacuum chamber, impurities contained in the gas are not taken into the thin film. In addition, since plasma is not used, the material constituting the vacuum chamber is not mixed into the thin film as an impurity, and the thin film is not damaged.

Although different evaporation materials are arranged for the evaporation sources 21 _{1 to} 21 ₅ , the same evaporation material is arranged for a plurality of evaporation sources and an arc discharge is performed together to improve the film forming speed. It is also possible.

[0069]

According to the present invention, a thin film can be formed with high film thickness accuracy. In particular, a multilayer film in which the thickness of each layer is very small, such as a magnetic film, can be formed with high film thickness accuracy. Since no impurities are mixed into the thin film and the thin film is not damaged, it is suitable for forming a magnetic thin film.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an example of a thin film forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining the structure of a deposition source. FIG. 2B is a schematic view for explaining a discharge generation mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view for explaining the structure of a magnetic thin film.

FIG. 4 shows a conventional thin film forming apparatus (evaporation apparatus).

FIG. 5 shows a conventional thin film forming apparatus (sputtering apparatus).

[Explanation of symbols]

10 vacuum chamber 28 _{1 to} 28 ₅ central axis 30
… Anode 40… Cathode 43… Evaporation material

Continuation of the front page (71) Applicant 000001144 Director of Industrial Technology 1-3-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (74) Designated representative of the above-mentioned one Director of Osaka Institute of Technology, Institute of Industrial Technology ) Inventor Yoshiaki Agawa 2500 Hagizono, Chigasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan Inside Vacuum Engineering Co., Ltd. 1-8-31 Industrial Technology Institute Osaka Industrial Technology Research Institute (72) Inventor Kenei Fujii 1-8-31 Midorioka Ikeda-shi Osaka Prefecture Industrial Technology Institute Osaka Industrial Technology Research Institute

Claims (2)

[Claims] An electrode member having an anode and a cathode, wherein a positive voltage is applied to the anode with respect to a conductive vapor deposition material provided on the cathode, and an electrode member disposed in the vicinity of the vapor deposition material and the vapor deposition material. An evaporation source configured to generate an arc discharge between the evaporation material and the anode when a trigger voltage is generated by applying a pulsed voltage between the material and the arc discharge; A thin film forming apparatus for forming a thin film by adhering the fine particles of the vapor deposition material released by the above to a substrate surface arranged in a vacuum chamber, wherein the fine particles of the vapor deposition material are generated by one trigger discharge. A thin film forming apparatus configured to be emitted by a predetermined amount by an induced arc discharge, to repeatedly generate the trigger discharge, and to form the thin film to a desired thickness. 2. A thin film forming apparatus having a plurality of said evaporation sources, wherein a center axis of a cathode of each of said evaporation sources is directed to a same substrate disposed in said vacuum chamber. The thin film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein