Carbon-coating-film cleaning method and device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10273581-B2
Application number	US-201414778302-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2014
Priority date	May 31, 2013
Publication date	Apr 30, 2019
Grant date	Apr 30, 2019

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for cleaning a carbon coating film, which can clean the carbon coating film that is formed on each portion of a plasma CVD device, and provides the plasma CVD device. The plasma CVD device 1 includes: first and second sealing members 2a and 2b which are formed of insulators and seal both ends of a workpiece W or a dummy workpiece W′, respectively; an anode 3; decompression units 26 which decompress the inside of the workpiece W or the dummy workpiece W′; a source-gas supply unit 6 which supplies a source gas to the inside of the workpiece W; a power source 27; and an oxygen-gas supply unit 8 which supplies oxygen gas to the inside of the dummy workpiece W′.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for cleaning a carbon coating film in a plasma CVD device which comprises: first and second sealing members each having a hollow bottomed cylindrical shape, and formed of an insulator, such that the first and second sealing members can alternately seal; both opening ends of a cylindrical electroconductive workpiece, respectively, to thereby communicate an inside of the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece with both insides of the first and second sealing members; and, when a cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece replaces the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece, both opening ends of the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece, respectively, to thereby communicate an inside of the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece with both insides of the first and second sealing members; a decompression unit which decompresses the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece through the first sealing member; a power source which applies a bias voltage to the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece or the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece which has both opening ends sealed by the first and second sealing members; a source-gas supply unit which supplies a source gas containing a hydrocarbon to the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece through the second sealing member; and a first anode which inserts into at least the second sealing member out of the first and second sealing members, and is mounted inside thereof, the method comprising:
providing an oxygen-gas supply unit which supplies oxygen gas, when the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece has been replaced with the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece, to the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece through the second sealing member, a second cathode to which the bias voltage is applied by the power source, the second cathode being provided inside the second sealing member and upstream from the first cathode along a direction oxygen gas is supplied from the oxygen-gas supply unit, a second anode which inserts into the second sealing member and is mounted inside thereof to be provided upstream from the first anode along the direction oxygen gas is supplied from the oxygen gas supply unit and between the first cathode and the second cathode, and a circuit which selectively applies a predetermined voltage to the first anode and the second anode;
a step of forming the carbon coating film on an inner surface of the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece by sealing both ends of the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece with the first and second sealing members, respectively, applying the bias voltage from the power source to the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece which is set as a first cathode with respect to the first anode or the second anode, and applying the predetermined voltage from the circuit to at least the first anode, while supplying the source gas by the source-gas supply unit to the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece that has been decompressed to a predetermined degree of vacuum by the decompression unit, and thereby generating a plasma of the source gas in the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece;
a step of replacing the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece having the carbon coating film formed on the inner surface with the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece, and generating an oxygen plasma in the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece, by decompressing the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece to a predetermined degree of vacuum by the decompression unit, applying the bias voltage from the power source to the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece which is set as the first cathode with respect to the first anode or the second anode, while supplying oxygen gas to the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece by the oxygen-gas supply unit and applying the predetermined voltage to only the second anode, among the first anode and the second anode; and
a step of decomposing and removing the carbon coating film which is formed on each portion of the plasma CVD device, by the oxygen plasma.

2. The method for cleaning the carbon coating film according to claim 1 , wherein a workpiece to be treated next is used as the dummy workpiece.

3. A plasma CVD device comprising:
first and second sealing members each having a hollow bottomed cylindrical shape and formed of an insulator, such that the first and second sealing members can alternately seal: both opening ends of a cylindrical electroconductive workpiece, respectively, to thereby communicate an inside of the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece with both insides of the first and second sealing members; and, when a cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece replaces the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece, both opening ends of the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece, respectively, to thereby communicate an inside of the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece with both insides of the first and second sealing members;
a decompression unit which decompresses the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece through the first sealing member;
a source-gas supply unit which supplies a source gas containing a hydrocarbon to the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece through the second sealing member;
a first anode which inserts into at least the second sealing member out of the first and second sealing members, and is mounted inside thereof;
an oxygen-gas supply unit which supplies oxygen gas to an inside of the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece through the second sealing member when the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece has been replaced with the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece;
a second anode which inserts into the second sealing member and is mounted inside thereof to be provided upstream from the first anode along a direction oxygen gas is supplied from the oxygen gas supply unit;
a power source which applies a bias voltage to the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece or the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece which has both opening ends sealed by the first and second sealing members and is set as a first cathode with respect to the first anode or the second anode; and
a circuit which applies a predetermined voltage to at least the first anode when the source gas is supplied from the source-gas supply unit to the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece, and which applies the predetermined voltage to only the second anode, among the first anode and the second anode, when oxygen gas is supplied by the oxygen-gas supply unit to the inside of the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece; and
a second cathode to which the bias voltage is applied by the power source, the second cathode being provided inside the second sealing member and upstream from the first cathode along the direction oxygen gas is supplied from the oxygen-gas supply unit,
wherein the second anode is provided in the second sealing member and between the first cathode and the second cathode.

4. The device according to claim 3 , wherein
the first sealing member is provided between the decompression unit and the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece or the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece, and
the second sealing member is provided between the source-gas supply unit and the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece or the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece, and between the oxygen-gas supply unit and the cylindrical electroconductive workpiece or the cylindrical electroconductive dummy workpiece.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kobayashi Koji
• Funatsu Junya

Classifications

• C23C16/26

  Deposition of carbon only · CPC title

• C23C16/02

  Pretreatment of the material to be coated (C23C16/04 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C23C16/455

  characterised by the method used for introducing gases into reaction chamber or for modifying gas flows in reaction chamber · CPC title

• C23C16/045

  Coating cavities or hollow spaces, e.g. interior of tubes; Infiltration of porous substrates · CPC title

• C23C16/50 Primary

  using electric discharges {(generation and control of plasma in discharge tubes for surface treatment H01J37/32, H01J37/34)} · CPC title