Chamber

Abstract

To properly perform a surface treatment to an outer surface of a rod-like body with a small number of man-hours while an air-tight state of a treatment chamber is sufficiently maintained.SOLUTION: A chamber 10 is used for performing a surface treatment to an outer surface of a rod-like body. The chamber 10 includes: a first outer package; a second outer package 13 that forms a treatment chamber TR for performing a surface treatment between the first outer package and the second outer package by combining with the first outer package; a first packing installed on a mating surface of the first outer package to the second outer package; and a second packing 14 that is installed on a mating surface of the second outer package 13 to the first outer package and maintains an airtight stage of the treatment chamber TR together with the first packing in a state where a rod-like body TU is installed by combining the first outer package and the second outer package. Each of the first packing and the second packing 14 has a groove 14A for holding the rod-like body TU in an airtight state by combining the first packing and the second packing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention is To Regarding. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, in a chamber used for performing surface treatment on the outer surface of a rod-shaped body such as a tube or a cable, a technique using a packing as described below has been known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The chamber described in Patent Document 1 has a processing chamber for forming a thin film on an end surface of a rod-shaped optical fiber. The packing is used in the chamber to maintain the processing chamber in an airtight state. Specifically, the packing is interposed between a cover plate and an intermediate ring that constitute the exterior of the chamber. The packing is also provided with a through hole that penetrates the packing in the width direction and has a hole diameter corresponding to the diameter of the optical fiber, and a cut that extends from the upper or lower surface of the packing to the through hole. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 3633994 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the technology described in Patent Document 1, in order to place the end face of the optical fiber in the processing chamber through only one packing provided between the lid body and the intermediate ring, the packing is provided with the above-mentioned through hole and cutout. In this configuration, it takes a lot of work to open the cutout of the packing and guide the optical fiber to the through hole, and when the processing chamber is decompressed, it is difficult to reduce the gap between the through hole / cutout and the optical fiber by only the elastic force of the packing, so that the airtight state of the processing chamber cannot be sufficiently maintained. Therefore, there is a demand for a technique that can reduce the number of work steps and can perform a good surface treatment on the outer surface of a rod-shaped body while sufficiently maintaining the airtight state of the treatment chamber.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides a chamber capable of satisfactorily performing surface treatment on the outer surface of a rod-shaped body while sufficiently maintaining an airtight state of the treatment chamber with a small number of work steps. Ba The purpose is to provide. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, a chamber according to the present invention is a chamber used for performing a surface treatment on an outer surface of a rod-shaped body, and includes a first exterior, a second exterior that is combined with the first exterior to form a treatment chamber for performing the surface treatment between the first exterior and the second exterior, a first packing provided on a mating surface of the first exterior with the second exterior, and a second packing provided on a mating surface of the second exterior with the first exterior, the second packing maintaining an airtight state of the treatment chamber together with the first packing when the first exterior and the second exterior are combined and the rod-shaped body is loaded, and the first packing and the second packing are each provided with a groove that airtightly holds the rod-shaped body. At least one of the first exterior and the second exterior is provided with a guide member that guides the rod-shaped body to be placed in the groove. . Effect of the Invention

[0008] The present invention relates to To This makes it possible to satisfactorily perform surface treatment on the outer surface of the rod-shaped body while adequately maintaining the airtight state of the treatment chamber with a small number of work steps. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a surface treatment apparatus according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the chamber. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the chamber. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the second groove and the guide groove. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a first modified example of the embodiment. [Figure 6A] FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating a second modification of the embodiment. [Figure 6B] FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating a second modification of the embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a third modification of the embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a fourth modified example of the embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a fifth modified example of the embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a sixth modified example of the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Hereinafter, a mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as an embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described below. Furthermore, in the description of the drawings, the same parts are given the same reference numerals.

[0011] (Embodiment 1) [Overall configuration of surface treatment system] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a surface treatment apparatus 1 according to an embodiment. The surface treatment device 1 is a device that performs surface treatment on the outer surface of a rod-shaped body. In this embodiment, a tube TU (see FIG. 2) that extends linearly and has a circular or elliptical cross section is used as the rod-shaped body. Examples of the tube TU include flexible medical tubes and medical pipes, including catheters, liquid supply tubes, air supply tubes, endoscope covering tubes, and endoscope channel tubes. The surface treatment according to this embodiment is surface modification using plasma. The surface treatment modifies the surface of the tube TU, improving the adhesive strength when a coating film or the like is attached to the surface.

[0012] As shown in FIG. 1, the surface treatment apparatus 1 includes a chamber 10, a microwave supply unit 20, a gas supply unit 30, and an exhaust unit 40. 1, the chamber 10 has a processing chamber TR for performing a surface treatment on the outer surface of the tube TU. The chamber 10 is also provided with a flat dielectric DI that constitutes a part of the inner wall of the processing chamber TR, and an exhaust port O1 and a gas supply port O2 that respectively communicate the inside of the processing chamber TR with the outside of the chamber 10. The detailed configuration of the chamber 10 will be described later in the section "Configuration of the Chamber."

[0013] The microwave supply unit 20 is a plasma source that generates plasma in the processing chamber TR. In this embodiment, a microwave-excited surface wave plasma (SWP) using a 2.45 GHz microwave power source is used as the plasma type. Note that the plasma type is not limited to microwave-excited surface wave plasma, and may be, for example, a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP), an inductively coupled plasma (ICP), an electron cyclotron resonance plasma (ECP), or a helicon wave plasma (HWP) depending on the application.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 1, the microwave supply unit 20 includes a microwave source 21 that generates microwaves and a waveguide 22 that transmits the microwaves generated by the microwave source 21. The microwaves transmitted by the waveguide 22 are transmitted into the processing chamber TR through the dielectric DI. As a result, an electromagnetic wave mode called a surface wave is generated on the surface of the dielectric DI facing the processing chamber TR, and the gas on the surface of the dielectric DI is turned into plasma. The plasma generated here turns the gas in the processing chamber TR into plasma in a chain reaction. The outer surface of the tube TU installed in the processing chamber TR is surface modified by the plasma. That is, the surface of the dielectric DI is a plasma generation source, and corresponds to the surface treatment source according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the surface treatment source according to the present invention is a plasma generation source, but if the surface treatment according to the present invention is vacuum deposition, for example, the surface treatment source corresponds to a deposition source.

[0015] The gas supply unit 30 includes a gas source (not shown) for supplying the gas to be turned into plasma, and a flow rate controller (not shown) for adjusting the flow rate of the gas, and supplies the gas to be turned into plasma into the processing chamber TR through the gas supply port O2. In this embodiment, argon gas is used as the gas. Alternatively, oxygen, nitrogen, a mixture of these with argon, or a mixture of hydrogen and argon may be used as the gas. The exhaust unit 40 includes a vacuum pump (not shown) and a pressure valve (not shown), and reduces the pressure in the processing chamber TR (sets the pressure to a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure) by exhausting gas from the processing chamber TR through the exhaust port O1.

[0016] At least a part of the operations of the microwave supply unit 20, the gas supply unit 30, and the exhaust unit 40 described above may be controlled by an independent control unit (not shown). The control unit may include a controller such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), or an integrated circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

[0017] [Chamber Configuration] Next, the configuration of the chamber 10 will be described. In the following, the configuration of the chamber 10 will be described using XYZ coordinate axes, which are mutually perpendicular X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis. Here, the Z-axis is a vertical axis (+Z-axis side: upper side (upper side in FIG. 1), -Z-axis side: lower side (lower side in FIG. 1)). 2 and 3 are diagrams for explaining the configuration of the chamber 10. Specifically, Fig. 2 is a top view of the chamber 10 as viewed from the +Z axis side. For ease of explanation, the first exterior 11 and the first packing 12 are omitted from Fig. 2. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the chamber 10 taken along line III-III in Fig. 2.

[0018] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the chamber 10 includes a first exterior 11 (FIG. 3), a first packing 12 (FIG. 3), a second exterior 13, a second packing 14, and a pair of guide members 15. The first exterior 11 has a bottomed rectangular tubular shape made of a metal material such as stainless steel and is airtight. As shown in Fig. 1, a part of the waveguide 22 is provided in the first exterior 11, and a dielectric DI is provided at the bottom. The first exterior 11 is assembled to the second exterior 13 in a position in which it opens on the -Z axis side (downward). Here, a surface 111 (Fig. 3, hereinafter referred to as a first exterior side mating surface 111) of the first exterior 11 that is assembled with the second exterior 13 is a flat surface and corresponds to a mating surface according to the present invention.

[0019] The first packing 12 has a rectangular ring shape made of an elastic member, and is provided on the first exterior mating surface 111. Here, the first packing 12 may be adhered to the first exterior mating surface 111, or may be provided removably without being adhered. Examples of materials constituting the first packing 12 include silicone rubber, nitrile rubber, fluororubber, urethane rubber, acrylic rubber, isoprene rubber, styrene rubber, chloroprene rubber, butadiene rubber, butyl rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, natural rubber, and synthetic natural rubber.

[0020] The second exterior 13 has a bottomed rectangular tubular shape made of a metal material such as stainless steel and is airtight, and is installed in a position where it opens on the +Z axis side (upper side). As shown in FIG. 1, the second exterior 13 is provided with an exhaust port O1 and a gas supply port O2 that communicate between the inside and outside of the second exterior 13. Meanwhile, the first exterior 11 is configured to be movable with respect to the second exterior 13, and is assembled with the second exterior 13 in a position where it opens on the -Z axis side (lower side). The second exterior 13 is assembled with the first exterior 11 to form a processing chamber TR (FIG. 2). Here, in the second exterior 13, a surface 131 (FIG. 3, hereinafter referred to as the second exterior mating surface 131) that mates with the first exterior mating surface 111 is a flat surface, and corresponds to the mating surface according to the present invention.

[0021] The second packing 14 has a rectangular ring shape formed of an elastic material similar to the first packing 12, and is provided on the second exterior mating surface 131. Here, the second packing 14 may be adhered to the second exterior mating surface 131, or may be provided detachably without being adhered. The second packing 14 adheres closely to the first packing 12 when the first and second exteriors 11 and 13 are combined and the tube TU is loaded, and maintains the airtight state of the processing chamber TR together with the first packing 12. As with the material of the first packing 12 described above, examples of materials constituting the second packing 14 include silicone rubber, nitrile rubber, fluororubber, urethane rubber, acrylic rubber, isoprene rubber, styrene rubber, chloroprene rubber, butadiene rubber, butyl rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, natural rubber, and synthetic natural rubber. The first and second packings 12, 14 may be made of the same material or different materials.

[0022] In this embodiment, in the second packing 14, a surface 141 (FIGS. 2 and 3, hereinafter referred to as the second packing side mating surface 141) that comes into close contact with the first packing 12 when the first and second exteriors 11 and 13 are assembled is located on the same plane (XY plane). In the second packing side mating surface 141, a set of second grooves 14A, each of which extends along the Y axis and has a substantially semicircular cross section that follows the outer shape of the tube TU, is formed on each of the edges that face each other along the Y axis, as shown in FIG. 2 or 3. In this embodiment, five sets of second grooves 14A are provided and are arranged in parallel along the X axis. The number of the second grooves 14A is not limited to five, but may be one or any other number of grooves.

[0023] In this embodiment, in the first packing 12, when the first and second exteriors 11, 13 are assembled, a surface 121 (FIG. 3, hereinafter referred to as the first packing side mating surface 121) that comes into close contact with the second packing side mating surface 141 is located on the same plane (XY plane) as the second packing side mating surface 141. In the first packing side mating surface 121, first grooves 12A having a substantially semicircular cross section that respectively follows the outer shape of the tube TU similarly to the second grooves 14A are formed at positions facing the five sets of second grooves 14A. The number of first grooves 12A is not limited to five, and may be one or any other number of multiple sets, so long as it is the same as the number of second grooves 14A. The first and second grooves 12A and 14A described above correspond to the grooves according to the present invention.

[0024] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the second groove 14A and the guide groove 15A. 2, the pair of guide members 15 are erected on the surface on the +Z-axis side (upper side) of the second exterior 13 at positions sandwiching opposite edges of the second packing 14 along the Y-axis from both sides in the Y-axis direction, and each extends linearly along the X-axis direction. The pair of guide members 15 guide the installation (fitting) of the tube TU into the second groove 14A.

[0025] Specifically, as shown in Fig. 2 or 4, guide member 15 is provided with guide grooves 15A that are cut out in the -Z-axis direction from an edge of guide member 15 in the +Z-axis direction, are positioned on an extension line of second groove 14A in the extending direction, and through which tube TU is inserted, in the present embodiment. In the same manner as second groove 14A, five sets of guide grooves 15A are provided and are aligned in parallel along the X-axis. 4, the guide groove 15A has a shape in which the width increases toward the opening of the guide groove 15A. The bottom position of the guide groove 15A is located closer to the second exterior 13 side (the -Z axis side) than the second groove 14A. The tube TU is smoothly guided into the guide groove 15A from the widened opening of the guide groove 15A, and naturally fits into the second groove 14A due to this guidance. This makes it easy to fit the tube TU into the second groove 14A.

[0026] [Surface treatment method] Next, a surface treatment method for performing a surface treatment on the outer surface of the tube TU using the above-mentioned surface treatment device 1 will be described. First, the worker inserts five tubes TU to be surface treated into the five sets of guide grooves 15A from the openings on the +Z axis side (upper side) of the guide grooves 15A. As a result, the tubes TU are placed (fitted) in the second groove 14A. In this state, both end portions of the tube TU are placed in the guide grooves 15A, respectively, and positioned outside the processing chamber TR, as shown in Fig. 3. If there are fewer than five tubes TU to be surface treated, dummy tubes are used to make up for the shortage.

[0027] Next, the worker assembles the first exterior 11 to the second exterior 13. As a result, the first and second packings 12 and 14 are in close contact with each other, and the first and second grooves 12A and 14A sandwich the tube TU. If the first packing 12 is not bonded to the first exterior mating surface 111, the first packing 12 is placed on the second packing 14 before assembling the first exterior 11 to the second exterior 13. Here, the tube TU has a linear shape as described above, and is installed with the same distance from the surface of the dielectric DI (the surface treatment source according to the present invention). That is, in this embodiment, the first and second grooves 12A and 14A are provided with the same distance from the surface of the dielectric DI to the installed tube TU.

[0028] Next, the operator operates the exhaust unit 40 to reduce the pressure inside the processing chamber TR through the exhaust port O1 (set the pressure to be lower than atmospheric pressure). Next, the operator operates the gas supply unit 30 to introduce the gas to be turned into plasma into the processing chamber TR through the gas supply port O2. Next, the operator operates the microwave supplying unit 20 to perform surface modification using plasma on the outer surface of the tube TU placed in the processing chamber TR. After the surface treatment has been applied to the outer surfaces of the five tubes TU, the worker removes the first exterior 11 from the second exterior 13 and also removes the five tubes TU.

[0029] According to the present embodiment described above, the following effects are achieved. In the chamber 10 according to this embodiment, the first and second packings 12 and 14 are provided with first and second grooves 12A and 14A, respectively, for sandwiching the tube TU therebetween. Therefore, when the processing chamber TR is depressurized, the air present in the gap between the tube TU and the first groove 12A and the air present in the gap between the tube TU and the second groove 14A are sucked in, and the first and second packings 12, 14 approach each other in the direction (Z-axis direction). That is, the tube TU and the first groove 12A can be tightly attached to each other, and the tube TU and the second groove 14A can be tightly attached to each other, so that the airtight state of the processing chamber TR can be sufficiently maintained. Therefore, according to the chamber 10 of the present embodiment, the airtight state of the processing chamber TR is sufficiently maintained, while the surface treatment can be satisfactorily performed on the outer surface of the tube TU.

[0030] Here, the applicant depressurized the processing chamber TR in a chamber not provided with the first and second grooves 12A, 14A, without the tube TU installed. As a result, it took a first time to reach the target pressure. The applicant also depressurized the processing chamber TR in the chamber 10 according to this embodiment, with the tube TU installed. As a result, it took a second time to reach the above-mentioned target pressure. The second time is the same as the above-mentioned first time. From the above, it has been found that even if the tube TU is installed in the chamber 10 according to this embodiment, the airtight state of the processing chamber TR can be sufficiently maintained.

[0031] In the chamber 10 according to this embodiment, the inner shapes of the first and second grooves 12A, 14A are each formed to have a substantially semicircular cross-sectional shape that matches the outer shape of the tube TU. Therefore, when the processing chamber TR is depressurized, the tube TU and the first and second grooves 12A, 14A can be brought into better contact with each other.

[0032] Furthermore, in chamber 10 according to this embodiment, second exterior 13 is provided with guide member 15 having guide groove 15A. Therefore, the workability regarding installation and removal of the tube TU with respect to the chamber 10 can be improved.

[0033] Here, the applicant measured the time required for the operation of installing the tube TU before surface treatment (hereinafter referred to as the third time) and the time required for the operation of removing the tube TU after surface treatment (hereinafter referred to as the fourth time) in a chamber having a packing with a slit and a through hole as described in Patent Document 1. As a result, the third and fourth times were each 200 seconds. The applicant also measured the time required for the operation of installing the tube TU before surface treatment (hereinafter referred to as the fifth time) and the time required for the operation of removing the tube TU after surface treatment (hereinafter referred to as the sixth time) in the chamber 10 according to the present embodiment. As a result, the fifth and sixth times were each 15 seconds. From the above, it has been found that, according to the chamber 10 of this embodiment, by providing the guide member 15, the workability regarding installation and removal of the tube TU with respect to the chamber 10 can be greatly improved.

[0034] The applicant measured the time required to install the tube TU before surface treatment (hereinafter referred to as the seventh time) and the time required to remove the tube TU after surface treatment (hereinafter referred to as the eighth time) in the chamber 10 according to this embodiment with the guide member 15 removed. As a result, the seventh and eighth times were each 20 seconds. Therefore, it was found that even when the guide member 15 is not provided, the workability of installing and removing the tube TU in the chamber 10 can be sufficiently improved compared to the packing described in Patent Document 1.

[0035] In the chamber 10 according to this embodiment, a plurality of pairs (five pairs in this embodiment) of the first and second grooves 12A, 14A are provided. Therefore, the tubes TU can be placed in the respective pairs of the first and second grooves 12A, 14A, and the outer surfaces of the plurality of tubes TU can be simultaneously subjected to surface treatment.

[0036] (Other embodiments) Although the embodiments for carrying out the present invention have been described above, the present invention should not be limited to the above-described embodiments. In the above embodiment, the surface treatment according to the present invention is described by taking surface modification by plasma as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. As the surface treatment according to the present invention, PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) or CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) for forming a thin film on the outer surface of the rod-shaped body may be adopted.

[0037] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a first modified example of the embodiment. In the above-described embodiment, the surface treatment is applied to the approximately central portion in the longitudinal direction of the outer surface of the tube TU that extends linearly, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the surface treatment may be performed only on one end of the tube TU. In this case, as shown in Fig. 5, one end of the tube TU is disposed inside the processing chamber TR with the other end of the tube TU positioned outside the processing chamber TR. The opening of the other end of the tube TU is closed by an elastic member TU1 to prevent communication between the inside and outside of the processing chamber TR through the tube TU. In this case, the position where the groove according to the present invention is provided in the first and second packings 12 and 14 is the position where the tube TU straddles the inside and outside of the processing chamber TR. Here, the elastic member TU1 is provided with a hole into which the tube TU is inserted. The shape of the hole becomes thinner as it goes deeper. This allows the elastic member TU1 to be commonly used for tubes TU of various diameters.

[0038] 6A and 6B are diagrams illustrating a second modification of the embodiment. In the above-described embodiment, as shown in Fig. 6A, the surface treatment is applied to a substantially central portion in the longitudinal direction of the outer surface of the linearly extending tube TU. After the surface treatment, the tube TU may be cut at positions P1 and P2 (Fig. 6B) to produce a tube TU' whose entire outer surface has been surface-treated.

[0039] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a third modification of the embodiment. In the above-described embodiment, the surface treatment is applied to the approximately central portion in the longitudinal direction of the outer surface of the tube TU that extends linearly, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a surface treatment may be performed on the bent portion on the outer surface of the tube TU bent into an L-shape. In this case, as shown in Fig. 7, the bent portion of the tube TU is disposed inside the processing chamber TR with both ends of the tube TU positioned outside the processing chamber TR. In this case, the positions where the grooves according to the present invention are provided in the first and second packings 12 and 14 are located at positions where the tube TU straddles the inside and outside of the processing chamber TR.

[0040] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a fourth modified example of the embodiment. In the above-described embodiment, the surface treatment is applied to the approximately central portion in the longitudinal direction of the outer surface of the tube TU that extends linearly, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a surface treatment may be applied to the outer surfaces of both ends of the tube TU bent into a U-shape. In this case, as shown in Fig. 8, both ends of the tube TU are disposed inside the processing chamber TR with the bent portion of the tube TU positioned outside the processing chamber TR. In this case, the positions where the grooves according to the present invention are provided in the first and second packings 12 and 14 are located at positions where the tube TU straddles the inside and outside of the processing chamber TR.

[0041] The shape of the tube TU to be subjected to the surface treatment is not limited to the L-shape or U-shape shown in the above-mentioned modified examples 3 and 4, and other shapes may be adopted. In addition, the cross-sectional shape of the tube TU is not limited to a circular cross-sectional shape or an elliptical cross-sectional shape, and other shapes may be adopted. Furthermore, the object to be surface-treated is not limited to the tube TU, and other members may be used as long as they are rod-shaped.

[0042] 9 is a diagram for explaining a fifth modified example of the embodiment, and is specifically a cross-sectional view corresponding to FIG. In the above-described embodiment, the first and second grooves 12A and 14A are provided in such a state that the distances from the surface of the dielectric DI to the tube TU to be placed therein are the same, but this is not limiting. For example, at least one of the five pairs of first and second grooves 12A, 14A may be provided with a different distance from the surface of the dielectric DI to the tube TU to be installed, compared to the other grooves. Specifically, in the present modified example 5 shown in FIG. 9, the first and second packing side mating surfaces 121, 141 are each formed in a stepped shape having a surface 1211, 1411 on the side close to the first exterior 11 and a surface 1212, 1412 on the side away from the first exterior 11. Among the five pairs of first and second grooves 12A, 14A, three pairs of first and second grooves 12A1, 14A1 are provided on the surfaces 1211, 1411, respectively. On the other hand, the remaining two pairs of first and second grooves 12A2, 14A2 are provided on the surfaces 1212, 1412. As a result, the tubes TU placed in the first and second grooves 12A1 and 14A1 are disposed at positions closer to the surface of the dielectric DI than the tubes TU placed in the first and second grooves 12A2 and 14A2.

[0043] According to the fifth modification described above, in addition to the same effects as those of the above-mentioned embodiment, the following effects are achieved. When the distance from the surface of the dielectric DI to the installation position of each of the multiple tubes TU is different, the degree of surface modification by the plasma applied to the outer surface is different. In the present modified example 5, the distance from the surface of the dielectric DI to the installation position of the plurality of tubes TU is different. Therefore, when it is desired to generate a plurality of tubes TU with different degrees of surface modification by plasma, the chamber 10 according to the present modified example 5 can generate the plurality of tubes TU simultaneously in a batch.

[0044] 10 is a diagram for explaining the sixth modified example of the embodiment, specifically, FIG 10 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to FIG 3. In the above-described embodiment, the first exterior 11 may be replaced with a first exterior 11A according to the present modified example 6 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 10, the first exterior 11A includes a first exterior body 112, a third packing 113, a fourth packing 114, and an auxiliary exterior 115. The first exterior body 112 has a bottomed rectangular tubular shape made of a metal material such as stainless steel that is airtight. Although not specifically shown in the drawings, the first exterior body 112 is provided with a part of the waveguide 22 and a dielectric DI at the bottom. The first exterior body 112 is combined with the auxiliary exterior 115 in a position that opens on the -Z axis side (downward). Here, a surface 1121 of the first exterior body 112 that is combined with the auxiliary exterior 115 (hereinafter referred to as the first exterior body side mating surface 1121) is a flat surface.

[0045] The third packing 113 has a rectangular ring shape formed of an elastic member similarly to the first and second packings 12 and 14, and is provided on the first exterior body side mating surface 1121. Here, the third packing 113 may be adhered to the first exterior body side mating surface 1121, or may not be adhered and may be provided removably. As with the materials constituting the first and second packings 12 and 14, examples of materials constituting the third packing 113 include silicone rubber, nitrile rubber, fluororubber, urethane rubber, acrylic rubber, isoprene rubber, styrene rubber, chloroprene rubber, butadiene rubber, butyl rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, natural rubber, and synthetic natural rubber.

[0046] The auxiliary exterior 115 has a rectangular tubular shape made of a metal material such as stainless steel that is airtight. In the auxiliary exterior 115, a surface 1151 (hereinafter referred to as the auxiliary exterior first mating surface 1151) that is combined with the first exterior body 112 and a surface 1152 (hereinafter referred to as the auxiliary exterior second mating surface 1152) that is opposite to the auxiliary exterior first mating surface 1151 are flat surfaces. The first packing 12 is provided on the auxiliary exterior second mating surface 1152. The first packing 12 may be bonded to the auxiliary exterior second mating surface 1152, or may be provided removably without being bonded.

[0047] The fourth packing 114 has a rectangular ring shape made of an elastic member like the first to third packings 12, 14, 113, and is provided on the auxiliary exterior first mating surface 1151. Here, the fourth packing 114 may be adhered to the auxiliary exterior first mating surface 1151, or may not be adhered and may be provided removably. Then, the fourth packing 114 comes into close contact with the third packing 113 in a state where the first exterior body 112 and the auxiliary exterior 115 are combined, and together with the third packing 113, hermetically seals the space between the first exterior body 112 and the auxiliary exterior 115. Examples of materials constituting the fourth packing 114 include silicone rubber, nitrile rubber, fluororubber, urethane rubber, acrylic rubber, isoprene rubber, styrene rubber, chloroprene rubber, butadiene rubber, butyl rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, natural rubber, synthetic natural rubber, etc., similar to the materials constituting the first to third packings 12, 14, 113. Note that the materials constituting the first to fourth packings 12, 14, 113, 114 may be the same material or different materials.

[0048] In the present sixth modification, in the fourth packing 114, when the first exterior body 112 and the auxiliary exterior 115 are combined, a surface 1141 (hereinafter, referred to as the fourth packing side mating surface 1141) that comes into close contact with the third packing 113 is located on the same plane (XY plane). In the fourth packing side mating surface 1141, a set of fourth grooves 114A, each extending along the Y axis and each having a substantially semicircular cross section that follows the outer shape of the tube TU, is formed on each of the edges that face each other along the Y axis. In the present sixth modification, five sets of fourth grooves 114A are provided and are arranged in parallel along the X axis.

[0049] In the present sixth modification, in the third packing 113, when the first exterior body 112 and the auxiliary exterior 115 are combined, a surface 1131 (hereinafter referred to as the third packing side mating surface 1131) that comes into close contact with the fourth packing side mating surface 1141 is located on the same plane (XY plane) as the fourth packing side mating surface 1141. In the third packing side mating surface 1131, third grooves 113A having a substantially semicircular cross section that respectively follows the outer shape of the tube TU similarly to the fourth grooves 114A are formed at positions facing the five sets of fourth grooves 114A.

[0050] As described above, in the chamber 10 according to the present modified example 6, by combining the first and second exteriors 11A and 13, a total of ten tubes TU can be installed between the first and second packings 12 and 14 and between the third and fourth packings 113 and 114. That is, the chamber 10 according to the present modified example 6 has a structure that allows surface treatment to be performed simultaneously on the outer surfaces of the ten tubes TU.

[0051] In the sixth modification described above, first exterior 11A is configured by combining two exteriors, first exterior body 112 and auxiliary exterior 115, but the present invention is not limited to this and may be configured by combining three or more exteriors. Similarly, second exterior 13 may be configured by combining a plurality of exteriors. [Explanation of symbols]

[0052] 1 Surface treatment equipment 10. Chamber 11, 11A First Exterior 12 First packing 12A, 12A1, 12A2 First Groove 13 Second Exterior 14 Second packing 14A, 14A1, 14A2 Second groove 15 Guide member 15A Guide groove 20 Microwave supply unit 21 Microwave Source 22 Waveguide 30 Gas supply section 40 Exhaust section 111 first exterior mating surface 112 First exterior body 113 Third Gasket 113A Third Groove 114 Fourth Gasket 114A Fourth Groove 115 Auxiliary Exterior 121 First packing side mating surface 131 Second exterior mating surface 141 Second packing side mating surface 1121 First exterior body side mating surface 1131 Third packing side mating surface 1141 4th packing side mating surface 1151 Auxiliary exterior side first mating surface 1152 Auxiliary exterior side second mating surface 1211,1212,1411,1412 sides DI Dielectric O1 gas supply port O2 exhaust port P1,P2 position TR Processing Room TU,TU´ Tube TU1 Elastic member

Claims

1. A chamber used for performing a surface treatment on an outer surface of a rod-shaped body, comprising: A first exterior; and a second exterior that is combined with the first exterior to form a treatment chamber between the first exterior and the second exterior for performing the surface treatment; a first packing provided on a mating surface of the first exterior with the second exterior; a second packing provided on a mating surface of the second exterior with the first exterior, the second packing maintaining an airtight state of the processing chamber together with the first packing when the first exterior and the second exterior are combined and the rod-shaped body is loaded, The first packing and the second packing include: In addition, grooves are provided to hermetically hold the rod-shaped bodies, At least one of the first exterior and the second exterior has A chamber provided with a guide member for guiding the installation of the rod-shaped body in the groove.

2. On an extension line of the groove in the guide member, A guide groove is provided through which the rod-shaped body is inserted, The guide groove is 2. The chamber according to claim 1, wherein the width of the chamber increases toward the opening of the guide groove.

3. On an extension line of the groove in the guide member, A guide groove is provided through which the rod-shaped body is inserted, The bottom position of the guide groove is The chamber according to claim 1 or 2, which is located on the exterior side of the at least one of the grooves.

4. The groove is There are multiple At least one groove of the plurality of grooves comprises:

4. The chamber according to claim 1, wherein the other grooves are provided at different distances from a surface treatment source for performing the surface treatment to the rod-shaped body.

5. The rod-shaped body is A tube, The inner shape of the groove is 5. The chamber according to claim 1, wherein the chamber is configured in a shape that matches the outer shape of the tube.

6. The surface treatment is The chamber according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the surface is modified by plasma.

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