Electron beam type evaporation unit

Abstract

This electron beam evaporation unit is provided with: a crucible (2) provided with a plurality of accommodation recesses (21) for an evaporation material (Em); an electron beam generation source (3); a shaping deflection means (4) for the electron beam; and a crucible cover (5); the operation of filling the vapor deposition material (Em) and the operation of maintaining the crucible (2) can be easily performed. The crucible is also provided with: a movable part which enables the crucible cover to move between a closed posture in which the crucible cover covers the upper part of the crucible and an open posture in which all the accommodating concave parts are exposed; and a guide part which, when the crucible cover is returned from the open posture to the closed posture, guides the crucible cover to a normal position at which the opening part (51) of the crucible cover and any one of the accommodating concave parts (21) coincide in the vertical direction by means of the self weight of the crucible cover. The movable part and the guide part are arranged at the end part of the crucible cover which covers the upper part of the opening part on the side opposite to the radial direction of the center of the clamping crucible, and the movable part and the guide part are composed of a hinge mechanism (6) which is freely supported in a swinging manner. A support shaft (62) of a hinge mechanism (6) is cooled by a refrigerant flowing into an inflow port of a circulation channel (52) in the crucible cover and a refrigerant flowing out to an outflow port.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an electron beam evaporation unit, specifically, it comprises: a crucible, which has a plurality of storage recesses for evaporation materials located on the same circumference on its upper surface; an electron beam generating source, which generates an electron beam; and a forming and deflecting mechanism, which forms and deflects the electron beam; the forming and deflecting mechanism irradiates the evaporation material in the storage recesses to evaporate the evaporation material. Background Art

[0002] As such an electron beam evaporation unit, for example, a unit described in Patent Document 1 is known. It is provided with a crucible cover, with the position of the crucible being phase-positioned in the radial direction at the nearest position of the electron beam generating source in any one of the storage recesses as the irradiation position, and the crucible cover has an opening that can expose the storage recess (hereinafter referred to as the "first storage recess") located at the irradiation position and covers the top of the crucible cover with a gap in the up and down directions. Moreover, during the evaporation process of the evaporation material by irradiation of the electron beam, the contamination of the evaporation material stored in each storage recess can be suppressed. In addition, in the above-mentioned conventional example, a circulation channel for circulating cooling water is provided in the crucible cover to cool the crucible cover to a specified temperature. Moreover, by assembling a magnetic circuit under the crucible cover, the crucible cover is used to capture the so-called reflected electrons generated when the evaporation material in the first storage recess is irradiated with the electron beam.

[0003] When an electron beam evaporation unit is set in a vacuum chamber and evaporation (film formation) is performed on a processed substrate, after each storage recess is filled with a granular or ingot-shaped evaporation material, the crucible is rotated around its central axis to phase-position the first storage recess at the irradiation position. In this state, the first storage recess and the opening are aligned in the up and down directions, so that only the first storage recess and, in turn, only the evaporation material filled therein are exposed. Then, an electron beam is generated in a vacuum chamber of a vacuum atmosphere, the generated electron beam is shaped and deflected, and the evaporation material of the first storage recess is irradiated to evaporate the evaporation material, thereby evaporating the surface of the processed substrate set in the vacuum chamber. When the evaporation material evaporates (consumes) only a specified amount or when the evaporation material is changed, the crucible is rotated in a state where the irradiation of the electron beam is stopped, for example, other storage recesses adjacent to the first storage recess are phase-positioned at the irradiation position. In this state, the deposition material in other storage recesses is irradiated with electron beams to evaporate the deposition material, thereby depositing the deposition material on the substrate to be processed. This operation is repeated to evaporate the deposition material in each storage recess, and deposition is sequentially performed on the substrate to be processed.

[0004] Here, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the crucible cover is fixed to a bottom plate provided with an electron beam generating source, a crucible, etc. via a fastening mechanism. This is for the following reasons. That is, when the evaporation material stored in the storage recess of the crucible is irradiated with an electron beam in a vacuum atmosphere to evaporate the evaporation material, not only the crucible but also the crucible cover will be heated to a high temperature. At this time, since the crucible having a rotating mechanism or the like must be cooled, the crucible cover is fixed to the crucible using a fastening mechanism such as bolts for the purpose of cooling the crucible cover by contact heat conduction (indirectly) with the crucible cover by utilizing this cooling. Therefore, when filling (or replenishing) the evaporation material into each storage recess, it is necessary to rotate the crucible in sequence and fill the evaporation material into each storage recess located at the irradiation position, and the operability is significantly poor. Furthermore, during evaporation, the evaporation material also adheres to and accumulates on the wall surface of the storage recess including the opening portion, and the diameter of the opening portion expands in a conical shape toward the upper surface. At this time, if the vapor deposition material accumulates in the opening part of the storage recess, it may hinder the smooth rotation of the crucible, so it is also necessary to perform a removal (maintenance) operation of the material. However, if tools are used one by one to remove the fastening mechanism, remove the crucible cover, etc., the operability is also significantly poor.

[0005] Prior art literature

[0006] Patent Literature

[0007] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 6195662 Summary of the invention

[0008] Technical problem to be solved by the invention

[0009] In view of the above, a technical problem of the present invention is to provide an electron beam evaporation unit having a structure that can easily perform an operation of filling an evaporation material and an operation of maintaining a crucible.

[0010] Solutions to technical problems

[0011] In order to solve the above technical problems, the electron beam evaporation unit of the present invention comprises: a crucible, which has a plurality of storage recesses for evaporation materials located on the same circumference on the upper surface; an electron beam generating source, which generates an electron beam; and a forming and deflecting mechanism, which forms and deflects the electron beam; it irradiates the shaped and deflected electron beam onto the evaporation material in the storage recesses to evaporate the evaporation material; it is characterized in that it also comprises a crucible cover, the position of the crucible in which any one of the storage recesses is phase-positioned in the radial direction at the nearest position of the electron beam generating source is the irradiation position, the crucible cover has an opening that can expose the storage recesses located at the irradiation position and covers the top of the crucible; it also comprises: a movable part, which makes the crucible cover in a closed position covering the top of the crucible and in a closed position that makes all the storage recesses The movable part and the guide part are composed of a hinge mechanism supported so as to be swingable, and are arranged at the end of the crucible cover above the radially opposite side of the center of the crucible sandwiched between the opening and the storage recess; a circulation channel for circulating a coolant to cool the crucible cover is formed in the crucible cover, and the inlet and outlet of the circulation channel are located on the end side of the crucible cover provided with the hinge mechanism, and the support shaft of the hinge mechanism is cooled by the coolant flowing into the inlet of the circulation channel and the coolant flowing out to the outlet of the circulation channel.

[0012] Furthermore, in order to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the electron beam evaporation unit of the present invention comprises: a crucible having a plurality of storage recesses for evaporation materials located on the same circumference on the upper surface; an electron beam generating source which generates an electron beam; and a forming and deflecting mechanism which forms and deflects the electron beam; irradiating the shaped and deflected electron beam onto the evaporation material in the storage recesses to evaporate the evaporation material; and is characterized in that it comprises a crucible cover, wherein the position of the crucible in which any one of the storage recesses is phase-positioned in the radial direction at the nearest position of the electron beam generating source is the irradiation position, and the crucible cover has an opening portion capable of exposing the storage recess located at the irradiation position and covers the crucible. The crucible cover is provided at the top of the crucible; the crucible cover is movable between a closed position covering the top of the crucible and an open position exposing all the storage recesses; and a guide portion, which takes the position of the crucible cover where the opening and the storage recess coincide with each other in the up-down direction as the normal position, and guides the crucible cover to the normal position by the dead weight of the crucible cover when the crucible cover is returned from the open position to the closed position; the movable portion and the guide portion are composed of a hinge mechanism supported so as to be swingable, and are arranged on the portion of the crucible cover above the side opposite to the radial direction of the center of the crucible sandwiched between the opening portion; a circulation channel is formed in the crucible cover to circulate a refrigerant to cool the crucible cover;

[0013] The hinge mechanism comprises: a pair of support bodies, which are respectively arranged on a bottom plate on which a crucible is arranged; and support shafts respectively fixed on each support body; the crucible cover is swingably mounted on each support shaft through a bearing; an internal channel allowing the refrigerant to pass through is formed on each support shaft, so that each internal channel is respectively connected to the inlet and outlet of the circulation channel.

[0014] According to the above method, since all the storage recesses are exposed when the crucible cover is in the open position, it is not necessary to rotate the crucible in particular or remove the crucible cover one by one, and the filling operation of the evaporation material and the maintenance operation of the crucible can be easily performed, which can significantly improve its operability. Moreover, by providing a guide portion, the filling operation of the evaporation material and the maintenance operation of the crucible can be completed only by returning the crucible cover from the open position to the closed position. In addition, the movable portion and the guide portion are composed of a hinge mechanism that is supported in a swingable manner, which is arranged on the portion of the crucible cover above the radially opposite side of the center of the crucible sandwiched between the opening portion, thereby, a structure that allows the crucible cover to be movable and guided between the closed position and the open position can be simply realized without interfering with other components. At this time, if the crucible cover is set to be held in a posture standing up in the up and down directions, it is not necessary to ensure in advance a retreat space for making the crucible cover in the open position, which is advantageous.

[0015] Here, when the evaporation material stored in the storage recess of the crucible is irradiated with an electron beam in a vacuum atmosphere to evaporate the evaporation material, not only the crucible, but also the crucible cover will be heated to a high temperature. At this time, since the support shaft of the hinge mechanism is heated to a high temperature, it is possible to hinder the smooth opening and closing action of the crucible cover during maintenance. In contrast, in the present invention, for example, by making the refrigerant supplied to the inlet of the circulation channel and the refrigerant flowing out of the outlet of the circulation channel flow near the support shaft of the hinge mechanism, the heat removal effect of the refrigerant on the support shaft can be effectively obtained. On the other hand, if an internal channel allowing the refrigerant to pass through is formed on the support shaft, and the refrigerant is circulated during the evaporation process, the support shaft can be reliably prevented from being heated to a high temperature. Thus, during maintenance, the crucible cover can be quickly moved to an open posture without using special tools, and further, it can be returned to the normal position only by the dead weight of the crucible cover (in other words, the crucible cover is not fixed relative to the crucible by bolts, etc.), so that the maintenance can be ended.

[0016] In the present invention, the following structure may be adopted: an annular protruding wall portion is provided on the lower surface of the crucible cover and is located around the opening portion, and when the crucible cover is swung and returned from the open posture to the closed posture, an annular sealing structure is formed around the storage recess by the protruding wall portion. At this time, the lower surface of the protruding wall portion is in contact with or close to the upper surface portion of the crucible located around the storage recess. Through this sealing structure for preventing scattering, when the evaporation material in the storage recess located at the irradiation position is evaporated by irradiation of the electron beam, the evaporation material can be suppressed as much as possible from passing through the gap between the crucible and the crucible cover to enter other storage recesses, thereby further suppressing the contamination of the evaporation material. In this case, an annular receiving groove for receiving the protruding wall portion when the crucible cover is swung and returned from the open posture to the closed posture can also be provided around the storage recess. In the closed posture of the crucible cover, the protruding wall portion sinks into the receiving groove to form a labyrinth sealing structure, or a sealing structure without applying a labyrinth is formed when the protruding wall portion is allowed to contact the receiving groove. When the lower surface of the crucible cover is provided with an annular protruding wall portion, it is preferable to further include a pressing mechanism for applying an upward pressing force to the lower surface of the crucible cover to swing the crucible cover to a rotation allowing position for allowing the crucible to rotate.

[0017] Furthermore, in the present invention, the following structure can be adopted: in the case where a circulation channel for circulating a coolant to cool the crucible cover is formed in the crucible cover, the hinge mechanism has: a pair of support bodies, which are respectively arranged on the bottom plate on which the crucible is arranged; and support shafts, which are respectively fixed on each support body; the crucible cover is swung freely on each support shaft through a bearing, and an internal channel allowing the coolant to pass through is formed on each support shaft, so that each internal channel is connected to the inlet and outlet of the circulation channel. Thus, only by connecting an external pipe (for example, a flexible metal hose) for supplying a coolant (cooling water) to one support shaft and connecting an external pipe (for example, a flexible metal hose) for discharging the coolant to the other support shaft, a structure for circulating the coolant in the circulation channel in the crucible cover can be realized. At this time, the hinge mechanism plays the role of a guide portion that guides the crucible cover to a regular position by its own weight when the crucible cover is returned from an open posture to a closed posture, and plays the role of making the crucible cover and the external pipe swing freely relative to each other. Thus, even if the crucible cover is swung, no stress is applied to the external pipes, and thus the problem of the external pipes being damaged due to repeated swung crucible cover is prevented from occurring. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 This is a perspective view showing the electron beam vapor deposition unit according to the present embodiment with the crucible cover in a closed position.

[0019] Figure 2This is a perspective view showing the electron beam vapor deposition unit according to the present embodiment in a state where the crucible cover is opened.

[0020] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 A side view of an electron beam evaporation unit is shown.

[0021] Figure 4 It is a partial enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating the hinge mechanism and the crucible cover.

[0022] Figure 5 (a) is along Figure 1 (b) is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the Va-Va line, and (b) is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view when the crucible cover is swung to a rotation-allowed position.

[0023] Figure 6 It is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating a hinge mechanism and a crucible cover according to a modified example. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] Hereinafter, referring to the accompanying drawings, an embodiment of the electron beam evaporation unit EB of the present invention, which is set in a vacuum chamber of a vacuum evaporation device and is used to evaporate the evaporation material Em and deposit (form a film) on a substrate to be processed, will be described. Hereinafter, directions orthogonal to each other in the plane of a base plate 1 to be described later are referred to as the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, and terms indicating directions such as "up" and "down" are used in reference to the installation posture of the vacuum chamber (not shown). Figure 1 The following is a description of the benchmark.

[0025] Reference Figures 1 to 3 The electron beam evaporation unit EB includes a bottom plate 1 having a rectangular outline on the long side in the X-axis direction. On the bottom plate 1, a crucible 2 and an electron beam generating source 3 are arranged side by side in the front and back of the X-axis direction. Thereafter, the side of the electron beam generating source 3 is the "front" and the side of the crucible 2 is the "back" in the X-axis direction. The crucible 2 is composed of a cylindrical component with good thermal conductivity such as copper, and has a plurality of storage recesses 21 for the evaporation material Em located on the same circumference on its upper surface. The crucible 2 is supported by a crucible shaft 22 arranged on the bottom plate 1, and the crucible 2 can be rotated around its rotation axis by a specified rotation angle each time by a motor outside the figure arranged in the atmosphere. Thereafter, the position of the crucible 2 that is phase-positioned at the nearest position of the electron beam generating source 3 in any one of the storage recesses 21 in the X-axis direction (radial direction) passing through the center of the crucible 2 is the irradiation position, and the recess located at this position is the first storage recess 21a. Although not particularly shown in the figure, a circulation path for a coolant (cooling water) is provided on the crucible 2, and during vapor deposition, the coolant is circulated through the pipe 2a to cool the crucible 2.

[0026] The electron beam generating source 3 includes a filament 31 and an anode plate 32 of ground potential. Then, by energizing the filament 31, thermal electrons are emitted, and the thermal electrons are accelerated by the potential difference with the anode plate 32, thereby generating an electron beam (not shown) and extracting it upward. The extracted electron beam is shaped and deflected into a predetermined shape by a shaping and deflecting mechanism 4, for example, a point-shaped electron beam is irradiated onto the evaporation material Em in the first storage recess 21a. The shaping and deflecting mechanism 4 includes: a pole shoe 41 disposed above the filament 31; and a pair of yokes 42, which are disposed in the Y-axis direction at intervals in a manner of sandwiching the trajectory of the electron beam from the front to the rear in the X-axis direction. In addition, since known devices can be used as the electron beam generating source 3 and the shaping and deflecting unit 4, further detailed description is omitted. A plate-shaped crucible cover 5 made of, for example, copper is provided on the upper surface of the crucible 2.

[0027] See also Figure 4 , an opening portion 51 that only allows the first storage recess 21a to be exposed is provided on the crucible cover 5. Furthermore, in order to enable the crucible cover 5 to be movable between a closed posture that covers the top of the crucible 2 and an open posture that exposes all of the storage recesses 21, a hinge mechanism 6 that serves as both a movable portion and a guide portion of the present embodiment is provided on the rear end portion in the X-axis direction of the crucible cover 5 that covers the top of the crucible 2 on the radially opposite side of the center (rotation axis) of the opening portion 51 that sandwiches the crucible 2. Here, the open posture that exposes all of the storage recesses 21 means that the crucible cover 5 does not exist above all of the storage recesses 21. Typically, Figure 2 The open posture of the crucible cover 5 is the upright posture described later, and the hinge mechanism 6 is configured to allow a posture change of approximately 90 degrees from the closed posture to the open posture. As a result, the maintainability of the storage recess 21 closest to the crucible cover 5 can be improved. The hinge mechanism 6 can also have a pair of support bodies 61 uprightly arranged on the rear end side of the base plate 1. At the upper end of each support body 61, a support shaft 62 is respectively provided in a fixed or known manner so as to be freely loaded and unloaded in a manner that penetrates it and extends in the Y-axis direction. For corrosion resistance and to reduce the released gas on the vacuum atmosphere side, the support shaft 62 is made of, for example, stainless steel. As a method for fixing the support shaft 62 to the support body 61, screw fixing, clamps, fasteners or clamps (a method that does not require hand tools for fixing) can be used, and adhesives or welding can also be used.

[0028] A recessed portion 63 is formed on both sides of the crucible cover 5 located at the rear end in the Y-axis direction, and the front end portion of the support shaft 62 located closer to the center of the crucible cover 5 in the Y-axis direction than the support body 61 is fitted into the recessed portion 63 with a sealing member 64 interposed therebetween. In this embodiment, two O-rings are used as the sealing member 64, but this is not limited thereto, and a contact seal such as a lip seal made of silicon or fluororesin may also be used. In addition, vacuum lubricating oil may be applied to the contact surface between the O-ring or the lip seal and the recessed portion 63 as required, or may be filled between the two O-rings. A bearing box 65 is installed on both sides of the crucible cover 5 in the Y-axis direction, and has a bearing (rolling bearing) 65a for axially supporting the support shaft 62. The crucible cover 5 is swung freely on each support shaft 62 through the bearing 65a. In this case, the support shaft 62 located in the recessed portion 63 sometimes also becomes a sliding surface when the crucible cover 5 is swung, but the sliding surface may also start from a region closer to the front end side than the sealing member 64. Thus, the hinge mechanism 6 functions as a guide portion that guides the crucible cover 5 to a proper position by its own weight when the crucible cover 5 is returned from the open position to the closed position, and functions to allow the crucible cover 5 and an external pipe described later to swing freely relative to each other.

[0029] When the crucible cover 5 is made of copper, even if there is a lubrication problem in the interval with the refrigerant, for example, fluorine-containing resin immersion nickel plating can be implemented on the surface of the support shaft 62. In the case of sliding contact, the longer the contact surface, the lower the surface pressure, so considering this point, it is only necessary to determine the length of the support shaft 62. In addition, if the surface pressure is sufficient to constitute a sliding bearing, the function of the bearing 65a and the bearing box 65 (as a rolling bearing) for the above-mentioned support shaft 62 can also be replaced by a sliding bearing composed of a recess 63 and a support shaft 62. In this case, since the protrusion formed by the bearing box 65 on the upper surface of the crucible cover 5 does not exist, a structure with better maintainability can be formed. In addition, if it is configured so that the part that mainly bears the surface pressure is located closer to the center side of the Y-axis direction of the crucible cover 5 than the sealing component 64, the wear powder generated in the sliding bearing part is recovered by the circulation system on the refrigerant side, thereby, it can be configured so that the wear powder does not leak to the outside, and by cleaning the sliding surface, the life of the bearing can be improved.

[0030] Furthermore, although not specifically illustrated in the figure, a stopper is provided on the support body 61 to limit the swing range of the crucible cover 5 in order to avoid interference with the crucible 2, etc., and is arranged to hold the crucible cover 5 in an upright position in the vertical direction in the open position. An internal channel 62a is formed on each support shaft 62 across its entire length to allow cooling water as a refrigerant to pass through. In this case, a roughly V-shaped circulation channel 52 is formed inside the crucible cover 5, and the portion of the internal channel 62a located in the recess 63 is connected to the inlet 52a and the outlet 52b of the circulation channel 52, respectively. In addition, the open position of the crucible cover 5 formed by the stopper can be any position as long as it is not located above the multiple storage recesses 21 of the crucible 2, and there is no problem even in the above-mentioned upright position. If there is no need to avoid interference, the crucible cover 5 can be swung to a reverse position (if the closed position is approximately 0 degrees, it is an open position of approximately 180 degrees) and maintained. In this way, even if the operator is from Figure 2 Maintenance can also be easily carried out on the rear side of the state.

[0031] A nut component 62b is provided at the end of each support shaft 62 protruding outward from the support body 61 in the Y-axis direction. Moreover, by connecting the external piping (not shown) extending from the cooling unit outside the figure to each support body 61 via the nut component 62b, the crucible cover 5 can be cooled by the cooling water circulating in the circulation channel 52. The fixing method of the connection of the external piping is not limited to this, and a hose belt or a connector method can also be used. As the external piping, considering the ambient temperature during evaporation, for example, a flexible metal hose is used, but it is not limited to this. Regardless of which fixing method or external piping is used, the hinge mechanism 6 will not apply torsional stress accompanying the swing of the crucible cover 5 (when fixed to the support body 61, the connection part does not rotate), the probability of occurrence of failures accompanied by refrigerant leakage is reduced, and the maintenance is improved in terms of replacement frequency and inspection frequency. In addition, a magnetic circuit 7 is arranged on the lower surface portion of the crucible cover 5 where the circulation channel 52 is located, which has a magnetic plate 71 made of a soft magnetic material and magnets 72 installed on both sides of the magnetic plate 71 in the Y-axis direction. Thus, the crucible cover 5 can capture the so-called reflected electrons generated when the evaporation material Em in the first storage recess 21a at the irradiation position is irradiated with the electron beam. In addition, the cooling effect of the coolant not only effectively supplements the reflected electrons, but also has the effect of preventing the magnet 72 from being demagnetized due to heat.

[0032] Reference Figure 5, an annular protruding wall portion 53 is provided on the front lower surface of the crucible cover 5 around the opening portion 51. Correspondingly, an annular receiving groove 23 is formed on the front upper surface of the crucible 2, which is located around the first receiving recess 21a and receives the protruding wall portion 53. Moreover, the position of the crucible cover 5 where the opening 51 and the receiving recess 21a are consistent in the up and down directions is taken as the regular position. When the crucible cover 5 is swung and returned from the open posture to the closed posture, the protruding wall portion 53 is sunk (received) into the receiving groove 23 due to its own weight, thereby forming a sealing structure for preventing scattering. In the case where the structure that causes the protruding wall portion 53 to sink into the receiving groove 23 by its own weight is used as a guide portion, the contact portion between the wall and the groove can also be formed into a cross-sectional shape of an inclined surface for guidance. In this way, the position accuracy of the crucible cover 5 relative to the crucible 2 can be improved. In this embodiment, the height of the protruding wall portion 53 is set, for example, so that its lower end abuts against the bottom of the receiving groove 23 in the closed position, but its lower end may also form a labyrinth seal structure without abutting against the receiving groove 23. Figure 1 and Figure 5 The closed posture of the crucible cover 5 described in (a) is a static state, which is constituted by the hinge mechanism 6 as a movable part and a guide part, the deadweight of the crucible cover 5, and the reaction force from the bottom of the receiving groove 23 of the crucible 2. In the case of forming a labyrinth seal structure, the pressing rod described later is subjected to the reaction force, and the pressure receiving member 81 is constituted to be static at a position that ensures the required distance of the labyrinth.

[0033] However, as described above, when the protruding wall portion 53 is sunk into the receiving groove 23, the protruding wall portion 53 interferes with the receiving groove 23 and the crucible 2 cannot be rotated. In the present embodiment, a pressing mechanism 8 is provided to apply an upward pressing force to the lower surface of the crucible cover 5 so that the crucible cover 5 is swung to a rotation allowing position (see FIG. 1 ) that allows the crucible 2 to rotate. Figure 3 The pressing mechanism 8 is composed of a pressure-receiving member 81 mounted on the front lower surface of the crucible cover 5 and a cylinder 82 for applying an upward pressing force to the pressure-receiving member 81. Figure 5 The crucible cover 5 is in the closed position shown in (a). When the front side of the crucible cover 5 is pushed upward by the pressing rod of the cylinder 82 via the pressure receiving member 81, the crucible cover 5 is swung to Figure 5(b) shows the rotation-allowed position where the protruding wall portion 53 is disengaged from the receiving groove 23. Thus, the crucible 2 can be rotated. In addition, two micro switches Ms are configured as detection devices to detect that the crucible cover 5 is in the closed position and the rotation-allowed position, respectively. In addition, since the crucible cover 5 swings around the rotation axis determined by the hinge mechanism 6, the relative position relationship between the opening portion 51 and the storage recess 21 in the closed position is maintained by means of the function as a guide portion, and bearings and contact seals are used, the torsional stress associated with the swing generated by each rotation of the crucible 2 will not be transmitted to the external piping system. That is, the probability of failures associated with refrigerant leakage caused by production operation is reduced, so the maintainability is improved in terms of replacement frequency and inspection frequency.

[0034] By adopting the above embodiment, a structure that enables the crucible cover 5 to be movable between a closed posture and an open posture is realized. In the open posture of the crucible cover 5, since all the storage recesses 21 are exposed, it is not necessary to deliberately rotate the crucible 2 or remove the crucible cover 5 one by one, and the filling operation of the evaporation material Em and the maintenance operation of the crucible 2 can be easily performed, which can significantly improve its operability. In addition, by using the guide part and the detection device, the completion of the filling operation of the evaporation material Em and the maintenance operation of the crucible can be confirmed only by returning the crucible cover 5 from the open posture to the closed posture. In addition, by forming a sealing structure with the protruding wall part 53 and the receiving groove 23 in the closed posture of the crucible cover 5, when the evaporation material Em in the first storage recess 21a is evaporated by irradiation with an electron beam, the evaporated material can be minimized from passing through the gap between the crucible 2 and the crucible cover 5 and entering other storage recesses 21. Therefore, the contamination of the evaporation material Em can be further suppressed. Furthermore, since no stress is applied to the external pipe connected to the support shaft 62 when the crucible cover 5 swings, no failure such as damage to the external pipe (refrigerant leakage) will occur due to repeated swinging of the crucible cover 5 .

[0035] Here, in the electron beam evaporation unit EB of the above-mentioned embodiment, when the evaporation material Em stored in the storage recess 21 of the crucible 2 is irradiated with an electron beam in a vacuum atmosphere to evaporate the evaporation material Em, not only the crucible 2 but also the crucible cover 5 is heated to a high temperature. At this time, since the support shaft 62 of the hinge mechanism 6 is heated to a high temperature, there is a possibility that the smooth opening and closing action of the crucible cover 5 is hindered during maintenance. In contrast, in the present embodiment, since a structure is adopted in which the cooling water as a coolant passes through the internal channel 62a of the support shaft 62 when circulating in the circulation channel 52 of the crucible cover 5, it is possible to reliably prevent the support shaft 62 from being heated to a high temperature. As a result, during maintenance, the crucible cover 5 can be quickly moved to an open position without using a special tool, and maintenance can be completed only by the crucible cover 5 returning to the normal position by itself (in other words, the crucible cover 5 is not fixed relative to the crucible 2 by bolts or the like as in the above-mentioned conventional example).

[0036] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but various modifications are possible as long as they do not depart from the scope of the technical concept of the present invention. In the above embodiment, the hinge mechanism 6 for swinging the crucible cover 5 is used as an example to describe the movable part and the guide part, but the movable part is not limited to this, as long as the crucible cover 5 can be moved between the open posture and the closed posture. For example, the crucible cover 5 can also be configured to be able to move parallel to the same plane as it using a known mechanism. On the other hand, as a guide part, as long as it can guide the crucible cover 5 to the regular position when returning from the open posture to the closed posture, there is no special limitation, for example, it can also be composed of a guide pin, an embedded or magnetic device, etc. In addition, although not specifically illustrated, when the crucible cover 5 is swung to the closed posture, the protruding wall part 53 can be engaged with the receiving groove 23, or the pressure-receiving part 81 can be engaged with the drive shaft of the cylinder 82 to form a guide part. In this case, since the guide part is lower than the upper surface of the crucible 2 in the direction of gravity, it has the effect of reducing the probability of sliding powder mixing into the evaporation material. In addition, the bottom surface of the receiving groove 23 may also include a groove shape having a bottom surface of the receiving groove 23 reaching each adjacent storage recess 21. That is, a shape having only a convex portion around the storage recess 21 is also included in the technical concept of the storage groove 23.

[0037] Furthermore, the hinge mechanism 6 as a movable part or a guide part is provided with a pair of support bodies 61 and the support shaft 62 is respectively provided in a fixed or known manner so as to be freely detachable, but it is not limited thereto. As long as the function as a guide part can be maintained, as a method of fixing the support shaft 62 to the support body 61, a method of setting (fixing) only by the deadweight of the crucible cover 5 can also be adopted. As a method of using deadweight to maintain the mutual positional relationship between the support shaft 62 and the support body 61 (a method of functioning as a guide part), examples of a device composed of the above-mentioned guide pin, an embedded or magnetic device, and a device that uses a wedge effect in combination with these can be cited. Of course, when an upward pressing force is applied to the lower surface of the crucible cover 5 by the pressing mechanism (the swinging action of the crucible cover 5 in the section where the crucible cover 5 reaches the rotation-allowed position), the deadweight of the crucible cover 5 is provided to be greater than the degree of functioning as a movable part and a guide part. In this way, if the structure is set only by the self-weight of the crucible cover 5, the operator can set the crucible cover 5 to a freely open posture by applying a force of the self-weight to the crucible cover 5 during maintenance (in addition, the degree of freedom to reach the open posture also has the advantage of being a posture that can be determined not based on the hinge mechanism 6 fixed to the support body 61), thereby making it easy to expose the entire storage recess 21, and the crucible cover 5 can be opened without applying a torsional stress to the external piping by the hinge mechanism 6, thereby becoming a structure that can further improve the maintainability. In the case of this structure, the micro switch Ms, which is a device for detecting that the crucible cover 5 is in a closed posture (normal state), is also used as an interlock signal of the electron beam irradiated on the vapor deposition material Em in the first storage recess 21a, and is set to a structure that can prevent human errors during maintenance. In addition, the self-weight of the crucible cover 5 also includes a structure in which the self-weight is increased by a device or magnetic force within a range that does not hinder the maintainability of the operator.

[0038] In the above-mentioned embodiment, the contamination of the vapor deposition material Em is suppressed by providing a sealing structure for preventing scattering by providing a receiving groove 23 on the crucible 2 and a protruding wall portion 53 on the crucible cover 5, but it is not limited to this. For example, only the protruding wall portion 53 may be provided on the crucible 2 or the crucible cover 5, and in the closed posture, the protruding wall portion 53 provided on the crucible 2 or the crucible cover 5 is abutted or close to the upper surface of the crucible 2 or the lower surface of the crucible cover 5 opposite thereto. In this case, the height (upward direction distance) of the protruding wall portion 53 around the storage recess 21 on the upper surface of the crucible 2 is preferably set to be within 1 / 2 of the height of the protruding wall portion 53. Figure 5 In the state of (a), the protruding wall portion 53 of the crucible cover 5 is above the relative height at which it cannot be seen directly. As a specific example, by setting the height of the protruding wall portion 53 of the storage recess 21 to be equal to the height of the protruding wall portion 53 located at the bottom of the crucible cover 5, the protruding wall portion 53 of the storage recess 21 can be seen directly. Figure 5(a) is at the same height as the upper position of the cylindrical portion in the direction of the lower surface of the opening 51 of the crucible cover 5, thereby ensuring the relative height from the lower surface of the crucible cover 5. As a result, when the evaporation material Em is evaporated, the evaporation material is prevented from entering the sealing structure as much as possible. In addition, the device in which the micro switch Ms is provided for detecting the closed posture or the rotation allowed posture is described as an example, but it is not limited to this, and other well-known detection devices can also be used.

[0039] In the above embodiment, a device having a support body 61 and a support shaft 62 is used as an example of a hinge mechanism 6 that supports the crucible cover 5 in a swingable manner, but it is not limited to this. For example, the support body 61 can also be composed of a rigid cooling water pipe that supports the crucible cover 5. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the open posture exposed by all the storage recesses 21 is that there is no crucible cover 5 above all the storage recesses 21, which can improve the maintainability, but this structure is also effective for the maintenance operation that requires loading and unloading operations of the crucible 2. This is because, usually, when loading and unloading operations of the crucible 2, operating space in the up and down directions is required, and there are obstacles in the horizontal direction. In the case of taking this purpose into consideration, it is preferred that the opening posture of the crucible cover 5 is a structure that can be in a state where there is no crucible cover 5 above the crucible 2 for the purpose of avoiding interference with the crucible 2.

[0040] In the above embodiment, in order to prevent the support shaft 62 of the hinge mechanism 6 from being heated to a high temperature, an internal channel 62a is formed on each support shaft 62 across its entire length to allow cooling water as a coolant to pass through, and the coolant is circulated in the circulation channel 52 in the crucible cover 5 through the internal channel 62a. However, the present invention is not limited to this. As long as the coolant can be used to cool the support shaft of the hinge mechanism 6 when the coolant is circulated in the circulation channel 52 in the crucible cover 5, the method is not limited. For example, Figure 6 As shown, the support shaft 620 of the hinge mechanism 6 is set as a solid shaft without an internal channel, and the circulation channel 520 formed in the crucible cover 5 is extended to the end surface of the crucible cover 5 provided with the hinge mechanism 6, and the inlet 520a and the outlet 520b of the circulation channel 520 are set on the end surface. At this time, it is preferred to make the part of the circulation channel 520 as close to the support shaft 620 as possible. In addition, the support shaft 620 can also be cooled by the coolant flowing into the inlet 520a of the circulation channel 520 and the coolant flowing out of the outlet 520b of the circulation channel 520. In this case, for example, the heat-resistant temperature of each component used in the hinge mechanism 6 or the temperature applied to the lubricating oil sealed in the bearing is set as an upper limit, and the relative position of the hinge mechanism 6 and the circulation channel 520 where the coolant flows can be determined through multiple experiments or computer simulations.

[0041] Description of Reference Numerals

[0042] EB. Electron beam evaporation unit, Em. Evaporation material, 1. Bottom plate, 2. Crucible, 21. Storage recess, 3. Electron beam generating source, 4. Forming deflection mechanism, 5. Crucible cover, 52. Circulation channel, 51. Opening, 52a. Inlet, 52b. Outlet, 6. Hinge mechanism (movable part and guide part), 61. Support body, 62. Support shaft, 62a. Internal channel, 65a. Bearing, 53. Protruding wall (component forming a sealing structure), 8. Pressing mechanism.

Claims

1. An electron beam evaporation unit, comprising: a crucible having a plurality of evaporation material storage recesses on the upper surface thereof and located on the same circumference; an electron beam generating source, which generates an electron beam; and a shaping and deflecting mechanism, which shapes and deflects the electron beam; irradiating the shaped and deflected electron beam onto the evaporation material in the storage recesses to evaporate the evaporation material, characterized in that: A crucible cover is also provided, wherein the position of the crucible in which any one of the storage recesses is phase-positioned in the radial direction at the position closest to the electron beam generation source is set as the irradiation position, the crucible cover having an opening capable of exposing the storage recess located at the irradiation position and covering the upper part of the crucible; The invention also comprises: a movable part, which enables the crucible cover to move between a closed position covering the upper part of the crucible and an open position exposing all the storage recesses; and a guide part, which takes the position of the crucible cover where the opening and the storage recesses are aligned in the vertical direction as a normal position, and guides the crucible cover to the normal position by its own weight when returning the crucible cover from the open position to the closed position; The movable part and the guide part are composed of a hinge mechanism supported to be swingable, and are provided at the end of the crucible cover covering the upper side of the opening on the opposite side of the center of the crucible in the radial direction; A circulation channel for circulating a refrigerant to cool the crucible cover is formed in the crucible cover, and an inlet and an outlet of the circulation channel are located on the end side of the crucible cover provided with a hinge mechanism, so that the support shaft of the hinge mechanism is cooled by the refrigerant flowing into the inlet of the circulation channel and the refrigerant flowing out of the outlet of the circulation channel.

2. An electron beam evaporation unit, comprising: a crucible having a plurality of evaporation material storage recesses on the upper surface thereof and located on the same circumference; an electron beam generating source, which generates an electron beam; and a shaping deflection mechanism, which shapes and deflects the electron beam; irradiates the shaped and deflected electron beam onto the evaporation material in the storage recess to evaporate the evaporation material, characterized in that; A crucible cover is provided, wherein the position of the crucible in which any one of the storage recesses is phase-positioned in the radial direction at the nearest position of the electron beam generation source is set as the irradiation position, and the crucible cover has an opening that can expose the storage recess located at the irradiation position and covers the upper part of the crucible; The invention also comprises: a movable part, which enables the crucible cover to move between a closed position covering the upper part of the crucible and an open position exposing all the storage recesses; and a guide part, which takes the position of the crucible cover where the opening and the storage recesses are aligned in the vertical direction as a normal position, and guides the crucible cover to the normal position by its own weight when returning the crucible cover from the open position to the closed position; The movable part and the guide part are composed of a hinge mechanism supported to be swingable, and are provided at the end of the crucible cover which covers the upper side of the opening on the opposite side of the center of the crucible in the radial direction; A circulation channel is formed in the crucible cover to circulate a refrigerant to cool the crucible cover; The hinge mechanism comprises: a pair of support bodies, which are respectively arranged on a bottom plate provided with a crucible; and support shafts respectively fixed to the support bodies, and the crucible cover is swingably mounted on the support shafts through bearings; An internal channel that allows the refrigerant to pass through is formed on each support shaft, and each internal channel is communicated with the inlet and outlet of the circulation channel respectively.

3. The electron beam evaporation unit according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: An annular protruding wall portion is provided on the lower surface of the crucible cover and is located around the opening portion; When the crucible cover is swung to return from the open position to the closed position, an annular sealing structure is formed around the housing recess by the protruding wall portion.

4. The electron beam evaporation unit according to claim 3, characterized in that: A pressing mechanism is further provided for applying an upward pressing force to the lower surface of the crucible cover to swing the crucible cover to a rotation allowing position in which the crucible cover is allowed to rotate.

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