BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of a chemical vapor deposition reactor in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing of a chemical vapor deposition reactor in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing of a chemical vapor deposition reactor in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing of a chemical vapor deposition reactor in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5A is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 1, showing the structure of the hot filament.
FIG. 5B is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 3, showing the structure of the hot filament.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of a chemical vapor deposition reactor in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5A is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 1, showing the structure of the hot filament. As shown in FIG. 1, the chemical vapor deposition reactor comprises a chamber 1 for a coating work. The chamber 1 defines therein an enclosed space 11 and an inside bearing surface 12. A substrate 9 for the coating work of chemical deposition is placed on the inside bearing surface 12 in vertical for coating. The substrate 9 has one single work surface or two opposite work surfaces 91 thereof set for coating.
Further, two electrodes 2 and 21 are vertically mounted inside the enclosed space 11. The electrode at the left side is a fixed electrode 2. The electrode at the right side is a rotating electrode 21. The rotating electrode 21 is mounted on a rotating power source 3 and rotatable by the rotating power source 3.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, four hot filaments 4 are respectively connected with the respective two distal ends to the fixed electrode 2 and the rotating electrode 21. The hot filaments 4 are arranged in parallel to provide a coating plane perpendicular to the inside bearing surface 12 of the chamber 1 of the chemical vapor deposition reactor, and kept apart from one work surface 91 of the substrate 9 at a predetermined distance D1. Further, each hot filament 4 has a predetermined tension. Further, as shown in FIG. 5A, each hot filament 4 is comprised of three hot wires 401 that are twisted, thereby enhancing the tensile strength, toughness, and high temperature physical performance of the hot filaments 4, and improving heat energy distribution stability, i.e., improving thermal stability to reduce expansion or contraction of the hot filaments 4 upon a drastic temperature change.
According to this embodiment, the rotating power source 3 is an electric motor that outputs a rotary driving force. Alternatively, a pneumatic cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder, or any of a variety of other equivalent rotating power sources may be used as a substitute. Further, a stress sensor 994 is mounted on the rotating electrode 21 to detect the tension of every hot filament 4 and to output a corresponding detection signal to an external controller 101 for computing so that the computed result is used to control the operation of the rotating power source 3 in rotating the rotating electrode 21 in a particular direction, thereby maintaining the tension of every hot filament 4 at a predetermined value.
Thus, when the hot filaments 4 expand due to a significant temperature change during the coating work in the chamber 1, the rotating electrode 21 is rotated to stretch the hot filaments 4 and to further maintain the predetermined distance D1 between the hot filaments 4 and the adjacent work surface 91 of the substrate 9, thereby preventing vibration of the hot filaments 4 so as not to interfere with the performance of the coating work and not to damage the substrate 9 upon flowing of a gas in the chamber 1.
FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing of a chemical vapor deposition reactor in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. According to this second embodiment, the hot filaments 41 are arranged in parallel to the inside bearing surface 121 inside the enclosed space 111 of the chamber 10. However, the extending direction of the electrodes according to this second embodiment is different from the extending direction of the rotating electrode 211 of the aforesaid first embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, this second embodiment comprises three rotating electrodes 211 arranged in parallel to the inside bearing surface 121 in the enclosed space 111 at one side at three different elevations, three fixed electrodes 20 arranged in parallel to the inside bearing surface 121 in the enclosed space 111 at three different elevations corresponding to the rotating electrodes 211, and three sets of hot filaments 41 respectively connected between the rotating electrodes 211 and the fixed electrode 20 and arranged in parallel at three different elevations. According to this second embodiment, each rotating electrode 211 has connected thereto six hot filaments 41. Further, the rotating electrodes 211 are respectively connected to a respective rotating power source 301. Further, a plurality of substrates 9 are placed on the inside bearing surface 121 in the enclosed space 111 of the chamber 10 in vertical and extending across the three elevations of the three sets of hot filaments 41. Thus, the substrate 9 at the left side in FIG. 2 has the two opposite work surfaces 911 set for coating, and the two abutted substrates 9 at the right side in FIG. 2 have the respective outer work surface 911 set for coating.
According to this second embodiment, the rotating power sources 301 are electric motors that are electrically connected to an external controller 102. The controller 102 controls rotation of the rotating power sources 301 in one direction subject to the computing of its internal function, maintaining the tension of each hot filament 41 at the predetermined value. Therefore, when the hot filaments 41 expand due to hot, the respective rotating electrodes 211 are rotated to stretch the respective hot filaments 41 and to further maintain the predetermined distance D2 between each work surface 911 of each substrate 9 and the adjacent hot filaments 41, preventing vibration of the hot filaments 4 so as not to interfere with the performance of the coating work and not to damage the substrate 9 upon flowing of a gas in the chamber 1. Therefore, this second embodiment achieves the same various effects as the aforesaid first embodiment does. Further, this second embodiment is capable of coating multiple substrates 9 at one time.
FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing of a chemical vapor deposition reactor in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5B is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 3, showing the structure of the hot filament.
As shown in FIG. 3, this third embodiment comprises a chamber 5. The chamber 5 has an enclosed inside space 51 and an inside bearing surface 52. A substrate 6 is placed on the inside bearing surface 52 in vertical for coating. The substrate 6 has one single work surface or two opposite work surfaces 61 for coating. Further, two electrodes 7 and 71 are provided inside the enclosed inside space 51. According to this embodiment, the rotating electrode 71 is spaced above the fixed electrode 7 and connected with its one end to a rotating power source 991, which is connected to an external controller 992 and controlled by the controller 992 to rotate the rotating electrode 71. According to this embodiment, the rotating power source 991 is an electric motor. However, a pneumatic cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder, or any of a variety of other equivalent rotating power sources may be used as a substitute.
As shown in FIG. 3, there are six hot filaments 8 respectively connected between the fixed electrode 7 and the rotating electrode 71 and arranged in parallel, providing a coating plane. Each hot filament 8 extends vertically downwards from the rotating electrode 71, and kept from the adjacent work surface 61 of the substrate 6 at a predetermined distance D3. Further, each hot filament 8 has a predetermined tension. Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, each hot filament 8 is formed of two twisted hot wires 801, thereby enhancing the tensile strength, toughness, and high temperature physical performance of the hot filaments 8, and improving heat energy distribution stability, i.e., improving thermal stability to reduce expansion or contraction of the hot filaments 8 upon a drastic temperature change.
Further, a pair of sensors 99 is provided inside the enclosed inside space 51 to detect variation of the predetermined distance D3 between the work surface 61 of the substrate 6 and each hot filament 8, and to output a corresponding detection signal to the controller 992 for computing. According to this embodiment, the sensors 99 are optical sensors. Alternatively, infrared sensors and tension sensors may be used to detect change of the tension of the hot filaments 8.
According to this embodiment, the optical sensors 99 output a detection signal to the external controller 992 for computing so that the controller 992 controls the rotating power source 991 to rotate the rotating electrode 71 in one direction subject to the computed result, thereby maintaining the predetermined tension of the hot filaments 8. Therefore, when the hot filaments 8 expand due to a variation of temperature upon a chemical reaction during the coating work, the rotating electrode 71 is properly rotated to stretch the hot filaments 8, thereby maintaining the predetermined tension of the hot filaments 8 and the predetermined distance D3 between the work surface 61 of the substrate 6 and the hot filaments 8, and therefore this embodiment prevents vibration of the hot filaments 8 to interfere with the performance of the coating work or to damage the substrate 6 upon flowing of a gas in the chamber 5.
FIG. 4 shows a chemical vapor deposition reactor in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is substantially similar to the aforesaid third embodiment. However, this fourth embodiment can coat multiple substrates 60 at one time.
As shown in FIG. 4, three rotating electrodes 701 and three fixed electrodes 70 constitute two coating zones, and two substrates 60 are respectively set in the two coating zones. Further, each rotating electrode 701 has connected thereto six hot filaments 81 that extend downwards to one corresponding fixed electrode 70.
Further, as shown in FIG. 4, each rotating electrode 701 has one end connected to a respective rotating power source 995 and rotatable by the associating rotating power source 995. The rotating power sources 995 according to this embodiment are electric motors.
Further, three pairs of sensors 990 are provided to detect the variation of temperature of every hot filament 81 and to output a corresponding detection signal. According to this embodiment, the sensors 990 are thermocouple sensors that are electrically connected to an external controller 993. The three pairs of sensors 990 output the respective detection signal to the controller 993 for computing, so that the controller 993 controls the rotating power sources 995 to rotate the associating rotating electrodes 701 and to further maintain the predetermined tension of the hot filaments 81.
Therefore, in addition of the effect of maintaining the predetermined distance D4 between the work surface 601 of the substrate 60 and the hot filaments 81 to prevent vibration of the hot filaments 81 upon flowing of a gas in the chamber 5 as what the aforesaid third embodiment provides, this fourth embodiment allows coating of multiple substrates 60 at one time to short the total working time and to improve the working efficiency.
Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
Patent Application
20080035060
