The present invention relates to a vacuum chamber, and particularly to a vacuum chamber which includes a plurality of wall members and in which a chamber main body is constructed by connecting each other connection surfaces each of which is part of each wall member.
A film forming apparatus includes an isolated chamber, so-called vacuum chamber, to prevent foreign matters from getting into a film surface at the time of a film forming operation and to generate a film forming material as in the case of sputtering. The vacuum chamber is constructed by attaching instruments, such as a vacuum pump, an isolation valve, a heater, a target, a magnet and a sputter electrode, to a chamber main body constructed by connecting a plurality of wall members each other. At the time of the film forming operation, a substrate is provided in the vacuum chamber, and a film is formed on the surface of the substrate by the operations of the instruments attached to the vacuum chamber.
In the film forming operation, the chamber main body is heated by, for example, heat generated by some of the instruments, such as the sputter electrode, attached to the vacuum chamber and plasma generated in the vacuum chamber. Therefore, the chamber main body is generally provided with a cooling structure (see Patent Documents 1 to 3).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2002-164593
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2002-151763
Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2004-172264
To provide cooling piping on the wall members of the chamber main body as in Patent Document 1 or to provide cooling passages inside the wall members as in Patent Documents 2 and 3, it is necessary to secure enough surfaces of the wall members or inner spaces of the wall members. However, since the number of the instruments attached to the chamber main body is not small, a narrow portion where a narrow surface is formed, such as a portion where attachment portions of instruments are formed adjacent to each other, is formed on the surface of the wall member. In such narrow portion, it is difficult to secure an adequately large surface for providing the passage. Moreover, in a bent portion where a bent surface is formed, such as a corner of the chamber main body or a flange portion formed around the opening of the chamber main body, the problem is that the arrangement of passage piping and the designing of the passages inside the wall members become complex. That is, there is room for improvement of the structure of the arrangement of the cooling passages of the chamber main body.
The present invention was made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum chamber capable of simplifying the structure of the arrangement of the cooling passages of the chamber main body.
In order to solve the above problems, a vacuum chamber according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a plurality of wall members, the plurality of the wall members being connected to each other to constitute a chamber main body by connection portions where connection surfaces each of which is part of a surface of each wall member are hermetically connected to each other, wherein at least part of the connection portions are built-in gap type connection portions each of which has a gap extending along the corresponding connection surfaces inside the connection surfaces and in which peripheries of the connection surfaces are hermetically connected to each other by welding. With this configuration, since the cooling passage can be formed by using the built-in gap type connection portion, it is possible to simplify the structure of the arrangement of the cooling passage in a narrow portion where a narrow surface is formed or in a bent portion where a bent surface is formed. Here, the vacuum chamber is an isolated chamber which is used to prevent foreign matters from getting into a film surface at the time of a film forming operation and to generate a film forming material as in the case of sputtering. Examples are a film forming chamber of a multi-chamber type film forming apparatus, a heat chamber, a plasma cleaning chamber and a load lock chamber. The wall members include not only basic components of the chamber main body, such as a top plate, a side plate and a bottom plate but also members, such as a flange, etc. provided on the basic components.
To surely obtain the effects of the present invention, in a vacuum chamber according to a second aspect of the present invention, the built-in gap type connection portion may be a connection portion forming a bent portion or narrow portion of the chamber main body. Here, the bent portion is a portion where a bent surface is formed, such as a corner of the chamber main body and a flange portion formed around the opening of the chamber main body. The narrow portion is a portion where a narrow surface is formed, such as a portion where attachment portions of equipments are formed adjacent to each other.
To surely obtain the effects of the present invention, in a vacuum chamber according to a third aspect of the present invention, the built-in gap type connection portion may be constructed by connecting each other planar connection surfaces each having a groove.
In a vacuum chamber according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the built-in gap type connection portion may be formed such that bent connection surfaces engage with each other and a gap is formed at a bent portion of the connection surfaces. With this configuration, since the connection surfaces engage with each other at the bent portion of the connection surfaces, it is possible to facilitate an operation of connecting the wall members each other.
As above, a vacuum chamber of the present invention can simplify the structure of the arrangement of the cooling passages.
The above object, other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be made clear by the following detailed explanation of preferred embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.
As shown in
The top plate 1 has a hole 5H for access. A flange 5 is hermetically connected to a circumference of the hole 5H by the welding portion 10. The flange 5 has a plurality of bolt holes 15. Although not shown, at the time of the film forming operation, a closure plate is hermetically attached to the flange 5, and at the time of inspecting or cleaning the film forming apparatus, the closure plate is detached, so that a worker can access the inside of the chamber through the hole 5H.
Similarly, the side plate 2 has a hole 6H through which a substrate that is a film forming target is inserted and taken out and a hole 7H through which a target that is a raw material source of film forming processing is inserted and taken out. Flanges 6 and 7 are hermetically connected to peripheries of the holes 6H and 7H by the welding portions 10, respectively. Each of the flanges 6 and 7 has a plurality of bolt holes 15. Although not shown, the substrate is inserted into the chamber through the hole 6H and taken out through the hole 6H, and at the time of the film forming operation, a hermetically-closed gate valve, a connection plate or a substrate supporting member is hermetically attached to the flange 6, so that the film forming processing by sputtering or the like can be carried out with respect to the substrate in the chamber 100. Moreover, although not shown, the target is inserted into the chamber 100 through the hole 7H and taken out through the hole 7H, and at the time of the film forming operation, a connection plate or a target supporting member is hermetically attached to the flange 7, so that the film forming processing by sputtering or the like can be carried out with respect to the substrate in the chamber 100.
Similarly, the side plates 3 and 4 have holes 8H and 9H, respectively, for attachment of sputter electrodes. Flanges 8 and 9 are hermetically connected to peripheries of the holes 8H and 9H by the welding portions 10, respectively. Each of the flanges 8 and 9 has a plurality of bolt holes 15. Although not shown, the sputter electrodes are hermetically attached to the holes 8H and 9H, respectively, so that the film forming processing by sputtering or the like can be carried out with respect to the substrate in the chamber. By attaching a plurality of the sputter electrodes, it is possible to cause the film forming materials to reach the surface of the substrate from various directions, so that it becomes easy to equalize the thickness of the film on the surface of the substrate and carry out the film forming processing with respect to a substrate having a complex shape. Therefore, depending on conditions of the film forming processing, such as the shape of the substrate and a plural-film formation, the sputter electrodes may be attached to the side plates 12 and 13, not shown, in the same manner.
Although not shown, the side plate 12 has an exhaust port. A valve is attached to the exhaust port. An exhaust apparatus, such as a vacuum pump, is attached to the valve. With this, it is possible to reduce the pressure in the chamber at the time of the film forming operation.
As above, the chamber 100 includes a plurality of wall members, that is, the top plate 1, the side plates 2, 3, 4, 12 and 13 and the bottom plate 11 and the flanges 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and the connection surfaces each of which is part of each wall member are hermetically connected to each other by the welding portions 10.
Here, the construction of a built-in gap type connection portion that is a feature of the present invention will be explained.
In a plane which is away from both edge portions of the end surface 3F that is the connection surface, a groove portion 3D is formed so as to extend in a direction in which the end surface 3F extends, and in a plane which is away from both edge portions of the end surface 4F that is the connection surface, a groove portion 4D is formed so as to extend in a direction in which the end surface 4F extends. With this, the groove portions 3D and 4D form a gap which extends along the connection surfaces at the built-in gap type connection portion, and the gap constitutes a passage 31.
Further, as shown in
Therefore, by connecting a pair of the through holes 21 to cooling water piping, it is possible to cause cooling water to flow in the passage 31, so that it is possible to cool down a portion between the flanges 8 and 9. To be specific, since the chamber 100 of the present invention can form the cooling passage by using the built-in gap type connection portion, it can simplify the structure of the arrangement of the cooling passage. Especially, it is possible to simplify the structure of the arrangement of the cooling passage in a narrow portion where a narrow surface is formed, such as a portion where attachment portions of equipments are formed adjacent to each other.
As shown in
In the end surface 2F that is the connection surface, a groove portion 2D is formed so as to extend in a direction in which the end surface 2F extends. With this, the groove portion 2D and the side edge portion 4G form a gap which extends along the connection surface at the built-in gap type connection portion, and the gap constitutes a passage 30.
Further, as shown in
Therefore, by connecting a pair of the through holes 20 to the cooling water piping, it is possible to cause the cooling water to flow in the passage 30, so that it is possible to cool down the bent portion between the flanges 9 and 6 and between the flanges 9 and 7. To be specific, since the chamber 100 of the present invention can form the cooling passage by using the built-in gap type connection portion, it can simplify the structure of the arrangement of the cooling passage. Especially, it is possible to simplify the structure of the arrangement of the cooling passage in a bent portion where a bent surface is formed, such as the corner of the chamber 100.
Moreover, since it is unnecessary to form a groove portion on the side plate 4, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost of the chamber 100.
As shown in
Specifically, a high surface 1P is formed at a hole 5H-side edge portion of the upper surface 1G, and a stepped surface 1Q is formed between the high surface 1P and the upper surface 1G. A portion on the hole 5H side of the bottom surface 5J, that is, a portion on the inner peripheral side of the flange 5 is cut out to form a high bottom surface 5P, and a stepped surface 5Q is formed between the high bottom surface 5P and the bottom surface 5J.
The surface-to-surface distance between the high surface 1P and upper surface 1G of the top plate 1 is equal to the surface-to-surface distance between the high bottom surface 5P and bottom surface 5J of the flange 5. The width of the high surface 1P of the top plate 1 in a radial direction of the hole 5H is formed so as to be smaller than the width of the high bottom surface 5P of the flange 5 in the radial direction of the hole 5H. With this, when connecting the flange 5 and the top plate 1, the high surface 1P of the top plate 1 and the high bottom surface 5P of the flange 5 are connected to each other, and the upper surface 1G of the top plate 1 and the bottom surface 5J of the flange 5 are connected to each other. Thus, an annular gap is formed, which is defined by the stepped surface 1Q, the stepped surface 5Q, the upper surface 1G and the high bottom surface 5P. The welding portion 10 is formed by continuously depositing the welding beads with respect to a portion between a hole 5H-side edge portion of the high surface 1P and a hole 5H-side edge portion of the high bottom surface 5P which edge portions are subjected to the edge preparation. Moreover, as shown in
As shown in
Therefore, by connecting a pair of the through holes 22 to the cooling water piping, it is possible to cause the cooling water to flow in the passage 32. Moreover, there are two passages between one through hole 22 and the other through hole 22. Since resistances of these passages are substantially equal to each other, the cooling water supplied from one through hole 22 may be divided into two so as to flow in the passage 32. That is, the chamber 100 of the present invention can secure the cooling passage by using the built-in gap type connection portion. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the structure of the arrangement of the cooling passage. Especially, it is possible to simplify the structure of the arrangement of the cooling passage at the bent portion where the flange 5 is constructed and the bent surface is formed.
As shown in
Specifically, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
A modification example of the built-in gap type connection portion of the side plate 3 and the side plate 4 will be explained.
As shown in
The embodiment of the present invention is explained above in detail, however the foregoing explanation should be interpreted only as an example since the present embodiment is provided for the purpose of teaching the best mode for carrying out the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but many modifications and other embodiments of the present invention are obvious to one skilled in the art within the scope of the present invention.
For example, the built-in gap type connection portion formed between the side plate 3 and the side plate 4 can be constructed without the through holes 21 formed on the top plate 1 and the bottom plate 11. To be specific, by connecting the top plate 1 and the side edge portions of the wall surfaces of the side plates 3 and 4, connecting the bottom plate 11 and the side edge portions of the wall surfaces of the side plates 3 and 4, and constructing the gap of the built-in gap type connection portion between the side plate 3 and the side plate 4 such that the gap penetrates upward and downward, the through holes 21 on the top plate 1 and the bottom plate 11 can be omitted.
Moreover, the above embodiment has been directed to the film forming chamber. However, the present invention is widely applicable to vacuum chambers that are isolated chambers to prevent foreign matters from getting into a film surface at the time of the film forming operation and to generate the film forming material as in the case of sputtering. For example, the present invention can be carried out in a film forming chamber of a multi-chamber type film forming apparatus, a heat chamber, a plasma cleaning chamber and a load lock chamber.
A vacuum chamber of the present invention is useful in that it is possible to simplify the structure of the arrangement of the cooling passage.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005-249284 | Aug 2005 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2006/314499 | 7/21/2006 | WO | 00 | 8/28/2009 |