Electron beam evaporation equipment capable of supplementing crucible material source under vacuum

Abstract

The utility model relates to electron beam evaporation equipment capable of supplementing a crucible material source under vacuum, which comprises a vacuum evaporation cavity, an evaporation source and a crucible bearing table are arranged in the vacuum evaporation cavity, a vacuum auxiliary cavity is arranged on one side of the vacuum evaporation cavity, a movable sealing baffle is arranged between the vacuum auxiliary cavity and the vacuum evaporation cavity, and a storage table is arranged in the vacuum auxiliary cavity. A transferring mechanism is further arranged in the vacuum auxiliary cavity and comprises a lifting table and a mechanical arm rotationally assembled on the lifting table, a transferring fork is arranged at the tail end of the mechanical arm, the mechanical arm is provided with a telescopic driving motor, and the transferring fork has a first taking and placing position moving to the storage table in the stroke of moving along with the mechanical arm. The second taking and placing position extends to the crucible bearing table after the movable sealing baffle is opened, and the vacuum evaporation cavity and the vacuum auxiliary cavity are each provided with a vacuum system. Material sources are convenient to supplement, the structure is simple, and protection performance is high.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The utility model relates to PVD equipment technical field, concretely relates to a kind of electron beam evaporation equipment of crucible material source can be supplemented under vacuum. BACKGROUND

[0002] Thin film deposition technology, as an important material preparation method, is widely used in electronic device manufacturing, optical coating, new energy field and functional thin film and many other fields. The development of thin film deposition technology not only promotes the progress of material science and engineering technology, but also provides strong support for the sustainable development of human society. Common thin film deposition methods include physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), solution method and atomic layer deposition (ALD).

[0003] PVD technology is one of the main technologies for preparing thin film materials, which refers to a technology that vaporizes the surface of a certain substance into gaseous atoms, molecules or partially ionized ions under vacuum conditions, and deposits thin film materials with certain special functions on the surface of substrate materials through low-pressure gas (or plasma) process. Compared with other deposition methods, PVD technology is deposited in a high vacuum environment, which can reduce impurities and pollution, ensure the purity of thin films, and handle a variety of materials, including metals, alloys, oxides, nitrides and carbides, with strong adaptability.

[0004] The diversity of PVD technology mainly reflects in different coating methods, including evaporation coating, sputtering coating and ion coating. Among them, electron beam evaporation coating not only can realize high-purity thin film preparation and accurate thickness control, but also can handle high-melting-point materials, which can be evaporated without damaging the properties of the materials. Electron beam evaporation equipment mainly relies on electron beam to hit the target material in the crucible, making it reach the evaporation state and be converted into gas, and then depositing on the substrate to form a thin film.

[0005] In the process of vacuum coating, the crucible is used to carry the film material for evaporation. After a period of coating, it is inevitable to take out the crucible to add new material source. The common process for replacing material is to first flush nitrogen into the coating chamber to reach atmospheric pressure, then open the chamber and take out the crucible for replacement. The working pressure of the equipment during coating requires to reach ultra-high vacuum level (about 1E-7mTorr), which increases the time for the equipment to recover vacuum and greatly reduces the working efficiency. At the same time, during the process of opening and closing the door, it is easy to introduce pollutants, which affects the quality of the coating layer. UTILITY MODEL CONTENTS

[0006] The utility model aims to provide a kind of electron beam evaporation equipment of crucible material source can be supplemented under vacuum, to reduce the ultra-high vacuum degree of coating chamber, ensure the consistency of film layer quality.

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, the electronic beam evaporation equipment capable of supplementing the crucible material source under vacuum comprises the following technical scheme:

[0008] The electronic beam evaporation equipment capable of supplementing the crucible material source under vacuum comprises a vacuum evaporation cavity, an evaporation source and a crucible bearing table arranged in the vacuum evaporation cavity, a vacuum auxiliary cavity arranged on one side of the vacuum evaporation cavity, a movable sealing baffle arranged between the vacuum auxiliary cavity and the vacuum evaporation cavity, a storage table arranged in the vacuum auxiliary cavity, and a transfer mechanism arranged in the vacuum auxiliary cavity.

[0009] Further, the mechanical arm is a multi-link articulated structure, comprising two or more articulated links, and the transfer fork is arranged at the end of the articulated link at the tail end.

[0010] Further, the vacuum evaporation cavity and the vacuum auxiliary cavity are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the crucible bearing table and the storage table are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, and the transfer fork moves in the left-right direction.

[0011] Further, the crucible bearing table comprises a rotating platform rotatably arranged in the vacuum evaporation cavity, the rotating axis is in the up-down direction, a plurality of positioning grooves are uniformly arranged on the rotating platform around the central axis, and the groove depth of the positioning grooves is lower than the height of the crucible so that the upper end surface of the crucible is higher than the upper surface of the rotating platform.

[0012] Further, the structure of the crucible bearing table is consistent with that of the storage table, and the movement path of the transfer fork is located at the position of the positioning groove on the front side of the crucible bearing table.

[0013] Further, one side of the auxiliary cavity is provided with an opening and closing door, and a transparent observation window is arranged on the opening and closing door.

[0014] Further, vacuum gauges are arranged in the vacuum evaporation cavity and the vacuum auxiliary cavity.

[0015] Further, a crystal oscillator is arranged above the crucible bearing table in the vacuum evaporation cavity.

[0016] Further, an ion source is arranged in the vacuum auxiliary cavity.

[0017] The beneficial effects of the utility model are as follows: compared with prior art, the electron beam evaporation equipment which can supplement the crucible material source under vacuum, introduces a vacuum auxiliary cavity on one side of the vacuum evaporation cavity in the electron beam evaporation equipment, can realize the crucible material replacement in the vacuum auxiliary cavity without destroying the vacuum state of the coating cavity, which can greatly reduce the number of vacuum breaking and material replacement, greatly improve the machine time utilization rate of the equipment, improve the industrial production rate, and simultaneously adopt the form of mechanical arm taking and placing the crucible, without connecting the vacuum auxiliary cavity and the vacuum evaporation cavity in the coating process, and the structure is simple, the protection is high. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0018] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical scheme of the embodiments of the utility model, the following will briefly introduce the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments:

[0019] Figure 1 It is the structure schematic view of the specific embodiment of the electron beam evaporation equipment which can supplement the crucible material source under vacuum of the utility model;

[0020] Figure 2 It is the perspective view in Figure 1 .

[0021] Figure 3 It is the attitude view of the telescopic arm retraction in Figure 2 .

[0022] Mark explanation: 1-vacuum evaporation cavity;11-cavity door;12-first vacuum gauge;13-crystal oscillator;14-substrate mounting table;15-baffle;16-cooling pipeline;17-ion source;2-vacuum auxiliary cavity;21-switch door;22-second vacuum gauge;3-crucible;4-crucible bearing table;41-rotary platform;42-positioning groove;5-storage table;6-mechanical arm;61-hinged rod;62-transfer fork;7-lifting table;8-vacuum system;9-sealing movable baffle. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] In order to make the technical purpose, technical scheme and beneficial effects of the utility model more clear, the technical scheme of the utility model will be further explained below in combination with the drawings and specific embodiments.It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the utility model, and are not used to limit the utility model, that is, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the utility model, not all the embodiments.The components of the utility model embodiments described and shown in the drawings herein can be arranged and designed in various different configurations.

[0024] The specific embodiment of the electron beam evaporation equipment which can supplement the crucible material source under vacuum of the utility model relates to, as Figure 1 , Figure 2As shown, the electron beam evaporation device capable of replenishing the crucible material source under vacuum comprises a vacuum evaporation chamber 1, an evaporation source and a crucible carrying table 4 are arranged in the vacuum evaporation chamber 1, the structure of the vacuum evaporation chamber 1 is basically the same as that of the prior art, a chamber door 11 is arranged on the front side, a substrate mounting table 14 is arranged at the top of the center position, a crucible carrying table 4 is arranged at the bottom, a baffle 15 is arranged above the crucible carrying table 4 for shielding the crucible 3, a first vacuum gauge 12 is arranged on the left side wall of the vacuum evaporation chamber 1 for observing the air pressure in the chamber in real time, and a crystal oscillator 13 is also arranged for representing the deposition film and thickness respectively. The lower side of the crucible carrying table 4 is connected with a cooling pipeline 16 for cooling the crucible 3. An ion source 17 is arranged in the vacuum evaporation chamber 1.

[0025] The structure of the crucible carrying table 4 is shown in the figure, which comprises a rotating platform 41 rotatably arranged at the bottom of the vacuum evaporation chamber 1, the rotating axis is along the up-down direction, a plurality of positioning grooves 42 are uniformly distributed around the central axis of the rotating platform 41, the positioning grooves 42 are used for placing the crucible 3, the groove depth of the positioning grooves 42 is lower than the height of the crucible 3 so that the upper end surface of the crucible 3 is higher than the upper surface of the rotating platform 41. In this way, the upper end of the crucible 3 can be arranged in a suspended manner, which is convenient for subsequent taking and placing operations.

[0026] A vacuum auxiliary chamber 2 is arranged on the right side of the vacuum evaporation chamber 1, the two are sealingly and closely fitted, at the same time, the side walls of the vacuum evaporation chamber 1 and the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2 have openings, the two are mutually penetrated, and a movable sealing baffle 15 is arranged at the penetration position, the movable sealing baffle 15 can be arranged in a plug-in type structure, of course, in other embodiments, it can also be designed in a flip type baffle 15 structure, which is not limited.

[0027] A storage table 5 is arranged in the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2, the structure of the storage table 5 is basically the same as that of the crucible carrying table 4, which is used for carrying the crucible 3 before and after the replenishment of the material source, and will not be described in detail.

[0028] A second vacuum gauge 22 is arranged in the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2 for detecting the vacuum degree in the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2. A switching door 21 is arranged on the front side of the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2, and a transparent observation window is arranged on the switching door 21 for observing the working condition in the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2 in real time.

[0029] In order to realize the taking and placing of the crucible 3 between the crucible carrying table 4 and the storage table 5, a transfer mechanism is further arranged in the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2, the transfer mechanism comprises a lifting table 7 and a mechanical arm 6 rotatably arranged on the lifting table 7, the tail end of the mechanical arm 6 has a transfer fork 62, the mechanical arm 6 is provided with a telescopic drive motor, the transfer fork 62 has a first taking and placing position on the storage table 5 in the stroke of following the action of the mechanical arm 6, and also has a second taking and placing position on the crucible carrying table 4 after the movable sealing baffle 15 is opened.

[0030] In actual use, the mechanical arm 6 is moved to the first taking and placing position to take out the crucible 3, the lifting platform 7 is lifted, and then the mechanical arm 6 is moved to the second taking and placing position to place the crucible 3 into the corresponding positioning groove 42, and the lifting platform 7 is lowered, so that the taking and placing of the crucible 3 and the replenishment of the material source can be realized.

[0031] In order to simplify the structure, the mechanical arm 6 is a multi-link articulated structure as a whole, including two or more articulated links 61 articulated with each other, and the transfer fork 62 is arranged at the end of the articulated link 61 at the tail end. The structure is simple to drive and convenient to control, and does not affect the normal operation of the vacuum evaporation cavity 1. Of course, in other embodiments, a telescopic rod in the form of a lead screw guide bushing can also be designed instead.

[0032] In order to further simplify the moving path, the vacuum evaporation cavity 1 and the vacuum auxiliary cavity 2 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the crucible carrying platform 4 and the storage platform 5 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, the transfer fork 62 moves in the left-right direction, and the moving path of the transfer fork 62 is located at the position of the positioning groove 42 on the front side of the crucible carrying platform 4. That is, the transfer fork 62 translates forward and backward along the upper front side position of the rotating platform 41, so that the taking and placing translation movement can be realized, and the crucibles 3 in other positioning grooves 42 will not be interfered with the path.

[0033] Meanwhile, the vacuum system 8 is arranged on the vacuum evaporation cavity 1 and the vacuum auxiliary cavity 2 respectively.

[0034] In use, after the electron beam evaporation equipment is used for a period of time, it is necessary to add material source into the crucible 3.

[0035] (1) After the pressure difference between the vacuum evaporation cavity 1 and the vacuum auxiliary cavity 2 to be plated is less than one order of magnitude, the sealing movable baffle 9 is opened, the transfer fork 62 of the mechanical arm 6 is extended into the vacuum evaporation cavity 1 from the vacuum auxiliary cavity 2, the crucible 3 is taken out from the vacuum evaporation cavity 1, and placed on the storage platform 5 of the vacuum auxiliary cavity 2, wherein the specific operation process of the mechanical arm 6 can be divided into the following steps: 1, the mechanical arm 6 is in the Home position; 2, the mechanical arm 6 extends into the vacuum evaporation cavity 1 to insert and take out the crucible 3, and the mechanical arm 6 is in the Extend position at this time; 3, the height of the lifting platform is raised, and the position of the lifting platform 7 is Up at this time, so that the crucible 3 is higher than the rotating platform 41; 4, the mechanical arm 6 is retracted into the vacuum auxiliary cavity 2 from the vacuum evaporation cavity 1, and the position of the mechanical arm 6 is Retract at this time; 5, the position of the lifting platform 7 is lowered, and the position of the lifting platform 7 is Dowm at this time, so that the crucible 3 falls into the positioning groove 42 of the storage platform 5; 6, the mechanical arm 6 returns to the Home position; 7, the crucible 3 transfer platform and the storage platform 5 are synchronously and sequentially rotated by thirty degrees. At this time, the first crucible 3 is taken out into the vacuum auxiliary cavity 2, and then the above steps are repeated to complete the taking and placing of the remaining five crucibles 3.

[0036] (2) Close the sealing movable baffle 9, fill air into the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2, make it reach the atmospheric pressure, open the switch door 21 of the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2, and add the material source into the crucible 3.

[0037] (3) Close the switch door 21 of the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2, open the vacuum system 8 of the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2, make its air pressure reach about 1E-6, and then open the sealing movable baffle 9.

[0038] (4) Put the crucible 3 from the vacuum auxiliary chamber 2 onto the crucible bearing table 4 of the vacuum evaporation chamber 1 by the mechanical arm 6. The specific operation process is opposite to the above-mentioned taking-out process, and will not be described in detail.

[0039] (5) Close the sealing movable baffle 9, and the material replacement of the crucible 3 is completed.

[0040] Finally, it should be explained that the above-mentioned embodiments are only used for illustration but not for limiting the technical scheme of the utility model, any equivalent replacement and modification or partial replacement of the utility model without departing from the spirit and scope of the utility model should be covered in the protection scope of the utility model claim.

Claims

1. Electron beam evaporation apparatus with refillable crucible material source under vacuum, comprising a vacuum evaporation chamber, in which an evaporation source and a crucible carrier are arranged, characterized in that One side of the vacuum evaporation cavity is provided with a vacuum auxiliary cavity, a movable sealing baffle is arranged between the vacuum evaporation cavity and the vacuum auxiliary cavity, a storage table is arranged in the vacuum auxiliary cavity, and a transfer mechanism is further arranged in the vacuum auxiliary cavity, the transfer mechanism comprises a lifting table and a mechanical arm rotatably arranged on the lifting table, the tail end of the mechanical arm is provided with a transfer fork, the mechanical arm is provided with a telescopic driving motor, the transfer fork has a first pick-and-place position on the storage table in the stroke of following the action of the mechanical arm, and has a second pick-and-place position on the crucible carrying table after the movable sealing baffle is opened, and the vacuum system is arranged on the vacuum evaporation cavity and the vacuum auxiliary cavity respectively.

2. The electron beam evaporation apparatus with a refillable crucible source under vacuum according to claim 1, characterized in that The mechanical arm is a multi-link articulated structure, comprising two or more articulated links, and the transfer fork is arranged at the end of the tail end articulated link.

3. The electron beam evaporation apparatus with a refillable crucible source under vacuum of claim 2, wherein, The vacuum evaporation cavity and the vacuum auxiliary cavity are arranged side by side along the left-right direction, the crucible carrying table and the storage table are arranged side by side along the left-right direction, and the transfer fork moves in the left-right direction.

4. The electron beam evaporation apparatus with a refillable crucible source under vacuum of claim 3, wherein, The crucible carrying table comprises a rotating platform rotatably arranged in the vacuum evaporation cavity, the rotating axis is in the up-down direction, a plurality of positioning grooves are uniformly distributed around the central axis of the rotating platform, and the groove depth of the positioning grooves is lower than the height of the crucible so that the upper end surface of the crucible is higher than the upper surface of the rotating platform.

5. The electron beam evaporation apparatus with a refillable crucible source under vacuum of claim 4, wherein, The structure of the crucible carrying table is consistent with that of the storage table, and the movement path of the transfer fork is located at the position of the positioning groove on the front side of the crucible carrying table.

6. The electron beam evaporation apparatus capable of replenishing a crucible material source under vacuum of claim 1, wherein, One side of the auxiliary cavity is provided with an opening and closing door, and a transparent observation window is arranged on the opening and closing door.

7. The electron beam evaporation apparatus capable of replenishing a crucible material source under vacuum of claim 1, wherein, Vacuum gauges are arranged in the vacuum evaporation cavity and the vacuum auxiliary cavity.

8. The electron beam evaporation apparatus capable of replenishing a crucible material source under vacuum of claim 1, wherein, A crystal oscillator is arranged above the crucible carrying table in the vacuum evaporation cavity.

9. The electron beam evaporation apparatus capable of replenishing a crucible material source under vacuum of claim 1, wherein, An ion source is arranged in the vacuum auxiliary cavity.

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