JP2009235429A - Sputtering apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sputtering apparatus capable of inclining a target surface with respect to a substrate surface at an arbitrary angle, finding the angle of inclination suitable for a material, manufacturing a thin film of excellent quality with excellent reproducibility, and achieving production of the thin film. <P>SOLUTION: The sputtering apparatus comprises a target electrode 12 and a substrate holder 13 arranged in a vacuum chamber 11, a target 14 held by the target electrode 12, a substrate 15 held by the substrate holder 13, an introduction pipe 16 which strides over the inside and the outside of the vacuum chamber 11 and can rotate around the axis O1, and an elbow pipe 17 which connects the tip end of the introduction pipe 16 to the target electrode 12, and makes the target 14 face the substrate 15 in an inclined state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sputtering apparatus, and more particularly to a sputtering apparatus that enables positioning of a sputtering electrode for growing a uniform high-quality thin film on a substrate.

JP 2007-182617 A JP 05-004804 A JP 2001-202618 A JP 2006-307303 A

  Conventionally, in order to grow a uniform thin film on the surface of a large-area substrate or the like, there has been proposed a method of increasing the size of a target or providing a mechanism for adjusting the distance from the center line axis of the target to the substrate.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9A, a target electrode 1 and a substrate holder 2 are installed in a vacuum chamber (not shown). A target 3 is attached to the target electrode 1. In general film formation, the surface of the target 3 is disposed opposite to the surface of the substrate 4 held by the substrate holder 2 (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  This arrangement method is called an on-axis method. In this arrangement state, high-energy particles that are characteristic of sputtering enter the surface of the substrate 4 and inhibit the growth of the thin film. For this reason, the sputtering method is not used for the production of a semiconductor active layer that requires complete crystal growth.

  In the oxide superconductor, the superconducting characteristics are very sensitive to the arrangement state of atoms constituting the target 3 and the oxygen content. Therefore, a high-quality thin film can be obtained by sputtering with the target 3 and the substrate 4 facing each other. Is not obtained.

  When high energy particles are incident on the growth surface of the thin film, the thin film atoms already deposited are separated from the thin film by resputtering. However, light elements and elements with higher vapor pressure are more easily resputtered. Change. Moreover, high energy particles introduce stress and strain into the thin film and generate many defects.

  Sputtering has such a mechanism. Therefore, in the production of multi-component compound thin films that require regular atomic arrangements and thin film materials that are sensitive to crystal defects, high energy particles must be incident on the thin film growth surface. It is necessary to suppress as much as possible.

  As a method for avoiding the incidence of the high energy particles on the thin film growth surface, it is desirable not to install the substrate 4 on the front surface from which the high energy particles protrude.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9B, an off-center method (see, for example, Patent Document 1) in which the substrate 4 is shifted parallel to the surface of the target 3, or as shown in FIG. There is an off-axis system in which the substrate 4 is stood on the edge (the surface of the target 3 and the surface of the substrate 4 are orthogonal) (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

  These methods have disadvantages such as a narrow region where a good quality film can be obtained and a non-uniform film thickness.

  Further, as a development form of this off-axis method, as shown in FIG. 9D, two target electrodes 1 are made to face each other at a constant interval, and a substrate 4 is disposed on an intermediate position between them to form a film. There is a counter target sputtering method (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

  Although this method can obtain a thin film of higher quality than the off-axis method using a single target in a relatively large size, there is a limit to enlargement, mass productivity, efficiency of target materials, etc. The actual situation is that it does not have practical production equipment functions.

  Therefore, as a substantially intermediate between the off-center method and the off-axis method, as shown in FIG. (For example, refer patent document 4).

  Here, if the angle θ (elevation angle) for looking up the center of the substrate 4 from the center of the target 3 is φ, the angle from the vertical axis of the substrate 4 is φ, and the distances between the centers of the target 3 and the substrate 4 are r (r , Θ, φ) determine the mutual position of the target 3 and the substrate 4.

  When this notation is used, the on-axis method is (r, 0, 0), the off-center method is (r, θ, 0), and the off-axis method is (r, θ, 90).

  In thin films using electronic functions, crystallinity with less strain, regular arrangement of atoms, occupation of a predetermined position in the crystal lattice of constituent atoms, single growth orientation and in-plane single orientation, stoichiometry It is necessary to achieve uniform dispersion of the composition and additive elements.

  In multi-element oxide superconducting materials, a slight deviation from the stoichiometric composition leads to a significant decrease in superconducting properties. However, since this superconductor contains oxygen atoms with low bonding strength, sputtering is used. Then, oxygen desorption is caused by high energy particles, and a thin film having a superconducting property with a smaller amount of oxygen than the stoichiometric composition is easily obtained.

  Therefore, for example, in order to obtain a high-quality superconducting thin film by the method shown in FIG. 9B, there exists an optimum inclination (θ) and distance (r) of the surface of the target 3 with respect to the surface of the substrate 4. However, the area is limited.

  The reason why such a range exists in the substrate arrangement state is that the atomic group jumping into the space by sputtering is not much different from the composition of the target 3 in the vicinity of the surface of the target 3, but at a position where high energy particles are incident. When the substrate 4 is disposed, atoms attached on the surface of the substrate 4 result in a composition shift of the thin film due to resputtering.

  On the other hand, the sputtered atomic groups are scattered by high-energy particles of sputtered atoms in the space, but the degree of scattering differs depending on the type of atoms. It will deviate greatly from the composition.

  For this reason, there are optimum values for the angle and distance (tilt angle / position; θ, r) tilted with respect to the surface of the target 3 depending on the constituent atoms of the material.

  That is, since the constituent elements are different between the compound semiconductor and the oxide superconductor, in general, an appropriate inclination angle and position are different. In addition, semiconductors having different components among the semiconductors have inherent inclination angles and positions where a high-quality thin film can be produced.

  However, in the technical field of producing functional thin films that use electronic functions by sputtering, as mentioned above, there are problems due to high energy particles, and therefore, a tilt angle suitable for the material is found and a good quality thin film is reproducible. There was a problem that it could not be produced well and linked to production.

  Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention can make the substrate surface and the target surface face each other in an inclined state at an arbitrary angle, and obtain a high-quality thin film by finding a relative inclination angle suitable for the material. An object of the present invention is to provide a sputtering apparatus that can be manufactured with good reproducibility and linked to production.

The invention according to claim 1 is configured such that, in a sputtering apparatus that performs sputtering with a target and a substrate facing each other in a chamber, the target and the substrate can be opposed to each other in an inclined state at an arbitrary angle. This is a characteristic sputtering apparatus.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a holder part for holding the target or the substrate and a support / introduction mechanism part for supporting the holder part and attaching the holder part to the chamber are connected via a connecting member having a bend. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sputtering apparatus is characterized.
The invention according to claim 3 is the sputtering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the holder part and the support / introduction mechanism part are detachable.
The invention according to claim 4 is the sputtering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the connection members are connected by using a plurality of connection members.
The invention according to claim 5 is the sputtering apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of connecting members are connected to each other using a rotating flange.
By relatively rotating the connection part divided into a plurality of parts, a more complicated and precise inclination angle can be set.
The invention according to claim 6 is the sputtering apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the connecting member is an elbow pipe.
The invention according to claim 7 is the sputtering apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the support / introduction mechanism section is rotatable from the outside of the chamber chamber about the axis.
The invention according to claim 8 is the sputtering apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein the support / introduction mechanism section is formed of a straight strip pipe.
The invention according to claim 9 is characterized in that one end of the pipe is taken out of the chamber chamber from the introduction flange of the chamber chamber and vacuum-sealed by a Viton seal. It is a sputtering apparatus of description.
The invention according to claim 10 is the sputtering apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the sputtering apparatus is an in-line sputtering apparatus in which a target or a substrate moves.
The invention according to an eleventh aspect is the sputtering apparatus according to the tenth aspect, wherein the target has a rectangular shape and is rotatable about a major axis thereof.
The invention according to claim 12 is the case where the holder part is a holder part for holding a target, and a magnet is arranged inside the holder part. It is a sputtering device.
The invention according to claim 13 is characterized in that the holder portion is a holder portion for holding a target, and a cooling pipe and a sputtering wire are arranged inside the support / introduction mechanism portion. 11. The sputtering apparatus according to any one of 11 above.
The invention according to claim 14 is the sputtering apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 11, wherein the holder part is a holder part for holding a substrate.
In the present invention, since the tilt angle between the substrate and the target can be arbitrarily selected, a tilt angle suitable for the material can be selected, and the best thin film can be formed.
An inclined state at an arbitrary angle can be realized with a simple member configuration in which the holder portion and the support / introduction mechanism portion are connected by a connecting member having a bend.

  By rotating the introduction portion about the axis, either the target electrode or the substrate holder connected to the connection portion can be opposed to the other in an inclined state, and at the same time, the relative distance can be changed. it can.

  By using pipes for the introduction mechanism section and the connection section, it is possible to easily change the relative angle and the relative distance between the target electrode and the substrate holder while easily securing the wiring of various wirings.

If the connecting part having a bend (inclination) is divided into a plurality of parts, a more complicated and precise inclination angle can be set by relatively rotating both of them.
In particular, by enabling the support / introduction mechanism unit to be rotated from the outside around its axis, it is possible to control the tilt angle and the distance between the substrate and the target. Further, when the rotation can be controlled from the outside, for example, even if the object is moving, the distance and angle can be appropriately set according to the movement.
In addition, when the holder and the support / introduction mechanism are at an angle of 90 °, the relative angle between the substrate and the target is not made parallel by rotating the support / introduction mechanism around the axis. Can be.
When connecting the substrate holder and the support / introduction mechanism with an inclination using the holder as a substrate holder, the target holder can be supported and introduced into the chamber in a straight line. It becomes unnecessary to use a thing, and it becomes possible to avoid complication.

  According to the sputtering apparatus of the present invention, the target surface can be tilted at an arbitrary angle with respect to the substrate surface, a tilt angle suitable for the material can be found, a high-quality thin film can be produced with good reproducibility, and linked to production. Can do.

  Next, an embodiment of the sputtering apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view when an electrode is introduced from the side of a sputtering apparatus according to the present invention (a substrate is placed above the apparatus). FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the sputtering electrode, the substrate, and the moving direction of the substrate in the rectangular rectangular chamber of the sputtering apparatus according to the present invention as viewed from above. In this case, the sputter electrode is introduced from the bottom plate (base plate) of the vacuum chamber. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the target electrode.
In these drawings, jigs that are not directly related to the present invention, such as an exhaust system, a vacuum gauge, a valve, and a shutter mechanism, are omitted.

  1 and 2, the sputtering apparatus 10 includes a target electrode 12 and a substrate holder 13 disposed in a vacuum chamber 11, a target 14 held on the target electrode 12, and a substrate 15 held on the substrate holder 13. , An introduction pipe 16 straddling the inside and outside of the vacuum chamber 11 and rotatable about the axis O1, and an elbow pipe for connecting the tip of the introduction pipe 16 and the target electrode 12 and opposing the target 14 to the substrate 15 in an inclined state. 17. The vacuum seal unit (vacuum seal adapter) 20 has a function of vacuum sealing and allowing the introduction pipe 16 to enter and exit (selecting an appropriate position) and also enabling the introduction pipe to rotate.

  Thus, by rotating the introduction pipe 16 about the axis O1, the inclination angle θ of the target electrode 12 connected to the elbow pipe 17 can be varied, and at the same time, the target 14 is moved in and out of the chamber of the introduction pipe 16. And the relative distance between the substrate 15 can be changed.

  At this time, the bending angle of the elbow pipe 17 is set so as to ensure the inclination angle of the target electrode 12 so that the center normal line O2 of the target 14 and the center normal line O3 of the substrate 15 do not become parallel. Note that the center normal line O2 coincides with the center axis of the elbow pipe 17 as shown in FIG.

  Thereby, the surface of the target 14 and the surface of the substrate 15 can be substantially inclined at an appropriate angle.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the elbow pipe 17 may be divided into a plurality of pieces and relatively rotatable about the axes O4 and O5.

  Thereby, a more complicated and precise inclination angle can be set by relatively rotating the elbow pipe 17 divided into a plurality.

  Hereinafter, each component related to the sputtering apparatus 10 of the present invention will be described in detail.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the target electrode 12 includes an electrode portion 18 having a cylindrical shape or a rectangular parallelepiped shape so as to hold the target 15, an introduction mechanism portion 19 having a piping structure extending from the elbow pipe 17 to the outside of the vacuum chamber 11, It has.

  The electrode unit 18 includes, for example, a magnet, a water cooling unit (not shown), and the like, but a known configuration can be used. In addition, there is a target electrode in which the electrode unit 18 is directly attached to the vacuum chamber 11 and the introduction mechanism unit 19 is omitted. In such a case, the electrode is fixed and an arbitrary angle cannot be selected. For this reason, the above-described two mechanisms are excluded.

  By the way, the case where the structure which inclines with the target electrode 12 at various angles with respect to the surface of the board | substrate 15 is considered.

  Here, for example, when the substrate 15 is installed on the upper portion of the vacuum chamber 11, when the target electrode 12 is introduced from the side surface of the vacuum chamber 11 (FIG. 1), it is introduced from the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber 11 ( Fig. 2) is conceivable.

  When the target electrode 12 is introduced from the side surface of the vacuum chamber 11, the axis O1 of the introduction mechanism unit 19 and the axis O2 of the electrode unit 18 are fixed at an angle of 90 ° (the target 14 and the substrate 15 are arranged in a face-to-face arrangement). In some cases, and incline at an arbitrary angle θ.

  In the case of fixing at an angle of 90 °, in order to relatively incline the target 13 and the substrate 15, the introduction mechanism portion 19 is rotated by rotating around the axis O1 (for example, the vacuum seal portion 20). Can be achieved.

  On the other hand, when the target electrode 12 is introduced from the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber 11 (FIG. 2), the introduction pipe 16 and the electrode portion 18 are connected by a 90 ° elbow pipe. The holder portion (electrode portion) 18 that holds the target and the introduction mechanism portion 19 are connected to an electrode portion flange 18a and an elbow pipe flange 17a, which are joint portions. In order to incline the electrode surface with respect to the substrate surface, the introduction pipe 16 may be rotated at the position of the vacuum seal portion 20.

  When the installation position of the electrode flange 18a is inclined, for example, the axial direction of the introduction pipe 16 is perpendicular to the surface of the substrate 15 (introduced from the side surface of the vacuum chamber 11) or parallel (from the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber 11). In the case of introduction from an oblique direction other than introduction) or introduction toward the center of the substrate 15, the joint surface of the electrode portion flange 18a or the elbow pipe flange 17a needs to be inclined.

  In these examples, the substrate holder 13 does not move in one direction during film formation.

  On the other hand, in the in-line method, the substrate 15 moves in one direction, and a thin film having a uniform film thickness and characteristics can be continuously formed on the substrate 15. This method is a manufacturing method having a mass production function.

  In this case, the vacuum chamber 11 has a casing shape instead of a cylindrical shape, and the substrate 15 is deposited while the substrate 15 is placed on the side surface while the substrate 15 moves in one direction.

  The surface of the target 14 is rectangular and is arranged so that the long axis coincides with the vertical direction (perpendicular to the moving direction of the substrate 15). In general, the surface of the substrate 15 and the electrode surface face each other.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the electrode surface is inclined by rotating the major axis. When the target electrode 12 is introduced from the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber 11, the surface of the target 14 and the introduction mechanism portion 19 are fixed at an angle of 90 °, and the introduction mechanism portion 19 is rotated by the vacuum seal portion 20. In this target electrode insertion method, a straight (straight) introduction pipe may be directly connected to the lower end of the target electrode. In this case, the structure is different from the former structure that uses elbow short pipes in terms of introducing pipes for water cooling, attaching power lines, etc., but the inclined state of the substrate surface and the target surface can be imparted by rotation of the introduction pipe. it can.

  On the other hand, when the target electrode 12 is introduced from the side surface of the vacuum chamber 11 facing the substrate 15, the target electrode 12 is tilted by rotating it left and right at the joint portion between the electrode flange 18a and the elbow pipe flange 17a. An arrangement that functions as an electrode can be realized.

  When the target electrode 12 is introduced from an oblique direction of the vacuum chamber 11, it is easy to smoothly change the substrate 15 that does not move in one direction by the tilt function, but for the substrate 15 that moves in one direction, It is not easy to smoothly incline the substrate 15 and the target 14 at regular intervals, and it is necessary to provide an inclination mechanism that matches the structure.

  However, introduction of the target electrode 12 from an oblique direction is a special example, and introduction from the side surface or bottom surface of the vacuum chamber 11 is common. A general case will be described.

In order to avoid incidence of high energy particles on the substrate surface, it is necessary to incline the substrate surface and the target surface.
At that time, as a relationship between the electrode portion 18 and the support / introduction mechanism portion 16, (i) when connecting with an angle of 90 °, or (ii) connecting with an inclination function, there are cases.
When introducing from the side surface of the vacuum chamber 11, either (i) or (ii) may be used, and in the case of (i), the support / introduction mechanism 16 is made rotatable about its axis, By rotating, the substrate surface and the target surface can be inclined. (Ii) can be realized by combining short pipes described later. Even in the case of (ii), the support / introduction mechanism may be rotatable.
When introducing from the bottom of the vacuum chamber 11, (ii) is preferable.

  In this example, a pair of water-cooled pipes 21 and a sputtering power line 22 are inserted into the introduction mechanism unit 19.

  Here, in order to realize the above two functions, the following must be satisfied.

  That is, the electrode for fixing the target 14 and the elbow pipe 17 need to be insulated. In addition, it is necessary to ensure an inclination (including 90 °) function at the joint portion between the electrode portion 18 and the introduction mechanism portion 19. Furthermore, the target electrode 12 is inclined. Therefore, the water-cooled pipe 21 must be made of a flexible material (hard nylon tube; shinflex tube, urethane tube, etc.) that can be deformed according to the bending angle of the elbow pipe 17.

  An inclination function can be provided by combining two short tubes having an angle at the joint portion between the electrode portion 18 and the introduction mechanism portion 19.

  In this case, a short pipe with a rotating flange is indispensable. In addition, a short pipe flange with bellows can also be used.

When the target electrode 12 is introduced from the side surface of the vacuum chamber 11 (FIG. 4), the elbow pipe 17 is divided into a plurality of parts so that the elbow pipe with respect to the axis O1 of the introduction pipe 16 is divided as shown in FIGS. The 17 axis O2 is inclined by 45 ° as a whole, and at the same time, the relative angle of each elbow pipe 17 is variable.
Further, when the target electrode 12 is introduced from the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber 11, the substrate surface and the target surface are not inclined in the state shown in FIG. Also in this case, the relative angle of the elbow pipe 17 is variable as shown in FIG. The elbow pipe 17 may have a plurality of configurations.

  At this time, each of the divided elbow pipes 17 may be half of the angle as a whole or may be separate.

Example 1
In the above configuration, for example, a 3-inch Alnico cylindrical magnet (for example, height: 46 mm, center magnet: 20 mmφ × 40 mm) was used to produce the target electrode 12.

  In addition, an electrode support / introduction pipe (SUS304) was connected to the center of the back side of the target electrode 12, and two elbow pipes 17 divided at 45 ° shown in FIG.

  The target electrode 12 is connected to a pair of 3/8 inch syflex tubes for the water-cooled pipe 21 and a shielded copper wire for supplying power, and these are connected to the outside of the vacuum chamber 11 through the pipes 16 and 17. Has been pulled out. In addition, the target electrode 12 was installed in a cylindrical vacuum chamber 11.

  The vacuum chamber 11 includes a bottom surface (bottom surface) of the vacuum chamber 11, a cylindrical feed-through collar (side surface), and an upper flange (top surface) provided with a chamber opening / closing mechanism (not shown).

  The substrate holder 13 is attached to the upper surface of the vacuum chamber 11 and includes a rotation mechanism 23. The film formation surface of the substrate 15 faces downward, and a heating heater 24 is provided on the back side of the substrate 15. The temperature of the substrate 15 can be up to 800 ° C. As the target electrode, the target electrode 12 was inserted from a tubular introduction flange 25 fixed to the feedthrough collar (side surface) by welding.

  The introduction pipe 16 passes through the introduction flange 25, and is joined to a fastening fitting (vacuum seal fitting) having a Viton seal mechanism inside and outside the feedthrough collar (side surface) via a conflat flange or the like. It is vacuum sealed with Viton by tightening.

  In such introduction of the target electrode 12, the target electrode 12 can freely enter and exit with respect to the center direction of the vacuum chamber 11, so that an appropriate position can be selected with respect to the center of the substrate 15.

  Further, by using the divided elbow pipe 17, the sputtering surface can be opposed to the surface of the substrate 15 at various angles.

An EuBa ₂ Cu ₃ O ₇ (EBCO) thin film was produced using such a target electrode 12.

The substrate 15 was 1-inch square R-plane sapphire. Further, on the surface of the R-plane sapphire, an 80 cm CeO ₂ epitaxial film that was (001) -oriented at 650 ° C. was formed as a reaction preventing buffer layer. For the preparation of the EBCO thin film, a stoichiometric composition EuBa ₂ Cu ₃ O ₇ sintered target was used. The size was 86 mmφ × 6 mmt.

The EBCO thin film was produced by sputtering with a direct current power source at 0.55 A under an atmosphere of 7 Pa in Ar + 8% O ₂ . The temperature of the substrate 15 at this time was 660 ° C. The film thickness of the EBCO thin film was 2000 mm.

  Under the condition that the center distance r between the substrate 15 and the target is about 70 mm, the inclination with respect to the vertical axis of the target is θ, and φ = 90−θ (the substrate 15 is oriented in the radial direction of r), An EBCO thin film was produced.

  Then, the change in the superconducting critical temperature (Tce; temperature at which the resistance becomes zero) of the EBCO thin film with respect to the inclination angle θ of the surface of the target 14 was measured. The measurement results are shown in FIG.

  When θ is near zero, the surface of the target 14 and the surface of the substrate 15 are substantially on-axis, and Tce does not exhibit superconductivity even at a low temperature of 4.2K. Further, as θ increased, Tce increased, and an EBCO thin film of 90-91K Tce, which is the limit of this material system, was obtained at θ = 80-90 °. θ = 90 ° coincides with the off-axis arrangement, but the high-angle side where θ is 70 ° or more is a state where incidence of high-energy particles on the surface of the substrate 15 is avoided as much as possible. It can be seen that a quality superconducting thin film can be obtained.

(Example 2)
A target electrode 12 (outside size: 87 × 80 × 273) having a square magnet with an outer magnetic pole spacing of 81 mm (horizontal) × 250 mm (vertical) (thickness: 8.3 mm) and an inner magnetic pole 20 mm × 191 mm long was produced. .

  In addition, an introduction pipe (SUS304) 16 was connected to the center of the back side of the target electrode 12. A 90 ° elbow pipe 17 is interposed in this connection portion, and the long axis direction of the target electrode 12 and the pipe axis direction are connected in parallel. The target electrode 12 is connected to a pair of 3/8 inch synflex tubes for water-cooled pipes and shielded copper wires for power supply, and is taken out of the vacuum through electrode support / introduction pipes.

  The vacuum chamber 11 has a square shape, and the substrate 15 is installed in a state where it is parallel to the side surface of the vacuum chamber 11. The substrate 15 can be heated at a temperature of 50 to 600 ° C., can move left and right at an arbitrary speed, and has a mechanism that can adjust the distance from the target 14 in the front and rear directions.

  The target electrode 12 is introduced from the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber 11 through the conflat flange port, and a metal fitting having a Viton shield mechanism is attached. The electrode position is selected at the introduction portion, and the target electrode 12 is fixed and vacuum-sealed.

  When the predetermined position was determined, a support base was interposed under the target electrode 12 in the vacuum chamber 11. In the introduction / installation of the target electrode 12 from the bottom surface of the vacuum chamber 11 with respect to the film formation surface of the substrate 15 leaning parallel to the side surface of the vacuum chamber 11, the target electrode 12 can be rotated left and right. A change from an axis state to an arbitrary inclination angle is possible.

  Using this target electrode 12, a ZnO (GZO) thin film to which Ga was added was produced.

As a GZO target, a ZnO sintered body (6 × 75 × 250 mm ³ ) added with 4% by weight of Ga ₂ O ₃ was used.

A GZO sintered compact target 14 was attached to a copper plate having a thickness of 1 mm, and this was installed on the target electrode 12. As the substrate 15, a 76 × 26 × lmm ³ slide glass was used, and the temperature was 150 ° C. A high frequency power source was used as a sputtering power source, and power was 300 W and sputtering was performed in an Ar atmosphere of 1 Pa. The substrate 15 was moved at 2 mm / min. The thickness of the produced GZO thin film was about 2000 mm.

  When the distance r between the centers of the substrate 15 and the surface of the target 14 is 70 mm and the surface of the substrate 15 and the surface of the target 14 are completely opposed to each other, the target 14 is rotated with respect to the surface of the substrate 15 by rotating in the horizontal plane. Can be inclined.

  This angle is the inclination angle θ. A GZO thin film was produced under the condition of φ = 90−θ (the substrate 15 is oriented in the radial direction of r). The electrical resistivity ρ at room temperature of the GZO thin film with respect to the inclination angle θ of the surface of the target 14 was measured. The result is shown in FIG.

When θ is near zero, an on-axis state is obtained. As a result, a thin film with poor crystallinity is formed due to crystal defects or the like due to the impact of high-energy particles, and a thin film with high electrical resistivity is obtained. The electrical resistivity ρ of this thin film was 1 to 0.1 Ωcm. As the film is tilted, the electrical resistivity decreases, and a thin film of 10 ⁻³ Ωcm is obtained at 40 °, and ρ = (2.5 to 3.7) × 10 ⁻⁴ Ωcm at a larger angle. Got.

  By the way, the energy of the particles generated by the sputtering method is two orders of magnitude higher than that of the vapor deposition method. When the high energy particles are incident on the surface of the substrate 15 (thin film deposition surface), the particles penetrate into the substrate 15 to obtain a strong thin film, but a thin film having a regular arrangement of atoms, a thin film with few defects, and a thin film with no composition deviation is obtained. It is not possible.

  Therefore, when the target electrode 12 is tilted, incidence of high energy particles can be avoided, and high-quality epitaxial thin film growth can be achieved. If this method is applied, it can be used for the formation of a semiconductor active layer and the production of a functional thin film such as an oxide superconducting thin film that is very sensitive to crystallinity, defects, composition deviation, and structural strain.

  In addition, the energy of particles generated by film formation is not harmful to the growth of atoms, and the material system has an effect of assisting the growth of the thin film. The energy of the particles generated by sputtering mainly depends on the tilt angle. As the tilt angle increases, the energy of the particles decreases (depending on both distances r).

  On the other hand, in the sputtering apparatus 10 of the present invention, since the inclination angle of the target electrode 12 can be arbitrarily selected, the inclination angle suitable for the material can be selected, and the best thin film production can be achieved. it can.

  In addition, in the case of the in-line method, when a rectangular electrode having a tilt function is used, an appropriate tilt angle can be found, and an apparatus design capable of mass-producing a high-quality thin film can be realized.

  In addition, since the sputtering apparatus 10 of the present invention has a tilting mechanism, it is possible to form a film with a wide range of particles from high energy particles to low energy particles by vapor deposition (including MBE). Various thin film formations are possible.

1 is a longitudinal sectional view in one direction of a sputtering apparatus according to the present invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view when the electrode is introduced from the side surface of the sputtering apparatus according to the present invention (the substrate is placed above the apparatus). It is explanatory drawing explanatory drawing which looked at the moving direction of the sputtering electrode, the board | substrate, and the board | substrate within the rectangular square chamber of the sputtering device concerning this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of one direction of the other sputtering apparatus concerning this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of one direction of the other sputtering apparatus concerning this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the principal part in the further another sputtering apparatus concerning this invention. FIG. 5 is a graph showing the change in the superconducting critical temperature of an EBCO thin film with respect to the inclination angle of the target surface. It is a measurement graph figure of the electrical resistivity in the room temperature of the GZO thin film with respect to the inclination-angle of a target surface. The conventional sputtering apparatus is shown, (A)-(D) is explanatory drawing of the principal part. It is explanatory drawing of the principal part of another conventional sputtering device.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Target electrode 2 ... Substrate holder 3 ... Target 4 ... Substrate 10 ... Sputtering device 11 ... Vacuum chamber 12 ... Target electrode 13 ... Substrate holder 14 ... Target 15 ... Substrate 16 ... Introducing pipe 16a ... Introducing pipe flange 17 ... Elbow pipe 17a ... Elbow pipe flange 18 ... Electrode part 19 ... Introduction mechanism part 20 ... Vacuum seal part 21 ... Water-cooled pipe 22 ... Power line 23 ... Rotation mechanism 24 ... Heater 25 ... Introduction flange

Claims (15)

In a sputtering apparatus that performs sputtering with a target and a substrate facing each other in a chamber, the sputtering apparatus is configured such that the target and the substrate can be opposed to each other in an inclined state at an arbitrary angle. The holder part holding the said target or a board | substrate and the support and introduction mechanism part for supporting the said holder part and attaching to a chamber are connected via the connection member which has a curve. Sputtering equipment. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the holder part and the support / introduction mechanism part are detachable. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of connection members are used for connection. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of connection members are connected to each other using a rotating flange. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the connection member is an elbow pipe. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the support / introduction mechanism section is rotatable from the outside of the chamber room around an axis. The sputtering apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein the support / introduction mechanism section includes a straight pipe. 9. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein one end of the pipe is taken out of the chamber chamber from an introduction flange of the chamber chamber and vacuum-sealed by a Viton seal. The sputtering apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the sputtering apparatus is an in-line sputtering apparatus in which a target or a substrate moves. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the target has a rectangular shape and is rotatable about a major axis thereof. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the holder unit is a holder unit that holds a target, and a magnet is disposed inside the holder unit. The said holder part is a holder part holding a target, Comprising: The cooling pipe and the electric wire for sputtering are arrange | positioned inside the support and introduction mechanism part, The Claim 1 thru | or 11 characterized by the above-mentioned. Sputtering equipment. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the holder part is a holder part for holding a substrate. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 14, wherein an electric wire for heating the substrate is disposed inside the support / introduction mechanism.

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