Film forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11732360-B2
Application number	US-201916630959-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2019
Priority date	Feb 28, 2019
Publication date	Aug 22, 2023
Grant date	Aug 22, 2023

Abstract

Inside a heating space of a heating chamber, a first heating treatment of moving a substrate along a substrate moving direction is performed by a first conveyor. After that, first conveyance processing of moving the substrate along a conveying direction is performed by a second conveyor. At this time, source mist is sprayed on the substrate by first thin film forming nozzles. Subsequently, second heating treatment is performed by a third conveyor. After that, second conveyance processing is performed by a fourth conveyor. At this time, source mist is sprayed on the substrate by second thin film forming nozzles.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A film forming apparatus comprising:
first and second heating chambers including first and second heating spaces;
first and second heating conveyors provided in said first and second beating spaces, said first heating conveyor performing first heating treatment by moving a substrate in a first direction inside said first heating space, and said second heating conveyor performing second heating treatment by moving said substrate in a second direction inside said second heating space;
a conveyor between said first and second heating chambers configured to perform conveyance processing of moving said substrate along a conveying direction, to thereby cause the substrate to pass through a film forming path outside said first and second heating chambers, and convey said substrate between the first and second heating chambers; and
a mist sprayer configured to perform mist spraying treatment of spraying source mist toward said substrate passing through said film forming path, the source mist being obtained by atomizing a source solution, wherein
at least part of said mist sprayer is provided in said conveyor, and
after at least one heating treatment of said first and second heating treatments is performed, a thin film is formed on said substrate by performing said mist spraying treatment with said mist sprayer.

2. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
said second direction is a direction opposite to said first direction, and
said conveying direction is a direction perpendicular to said first and second directions.

3. The film forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the first and second directions are directions perpendicular to a surface of said substrate, and
said conveying direction is a direction in parallel with the surface of said substrate.

4. The film forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
said first direction is an ascending direction from a lower side toward an upper side, and said second direction is a descending direction from the upper side toward the lower side,
said film forming path includes first and second film forming paths having same formation lengths, said first and second film forming paths are provided at first and second positions different from each other in said first direction, the first and second film forming paths do not overlap each other, and said first position has such a positional relationship that the first position is located higher than said second position in said first direction,
said conveying direction includes first and second conveying directions, said first conveying direction is a direction from said first heating chamber toward said second heating chamber, and said second conveying direction is a direction from said second heating chamber toward said first heating chamber,
said conveyor between heating chambers includes first and second conveyors between heating chambers,
said first conveyor between heating chambers performs first conveyance processing of moving said substrate from said first heating chamber to said second heating chamber along said first conveying direction, said substrate is passed through said first film forming path,
said second conveyor between heating chambers performs second conveyance processing of moving said substrate from said second heating chamber to said first heating chamber along said second conveying direction, said substrate is passed through said second film forming path, and said conveyance processing includes said first and second conveyance processings,
said mist sprayer includes first and second mist sprayers, said first mist sprayer performs first mist spraying treatment of spraying toward said substrate passing through said first film forming path, said second mist sprayer performs second mist spraying treatment of spraying toward said substrate passing through said second film forming path, and said mist spraying treatment includes said first and second mist spraying treatments, and
a basic cycle being a series of processing performed in order of said first heating treatment, said first conveyance processing, said second heating treatment, and said second conveyance processing is performed at least once.

5. The film forming apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein
a distance from said first position to said second position in each of said first and second heating chambers is defined as a heating process length, a formation length of said first and second film forming paths is defined as a same film forming process length, a moving speed of said substrate with said first and second heating conveyors is defined as a same heating moving speed, and a moving speed of said substrate with said first and second conveyors between heating chambers is defined as a same conveyance moving speed,
necessary heating time is required to perform said first and second heating treatments, and necessary mist spraying time is required to perform said first and second mist spraying treatments, and
said heating process length and said heating moving speed are set to satisfy said necessary heating time, and said film forming process length and said conveyance moving speed are set to satisfy said necessary mist spraying time.

6. The film forming apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
number of times of repeated performance of said basic cycle is defined as number of cycles, and
said number of cycles is set to such that a film thickness of a thin film reaches a predetermined film thickness.

7. The film forming apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein
each of said first and second mist sprayers includes
a first direction mist sprayer configured to perform first direction mist spraying treatment of spraying said source mist toward said first direction, and
a second direction mist sprayer configured to perform second direction mist spraying treatment of spraying said source mist toward said second direction, and wherein

said at least part of said mist sprayer is said first direction mist sprayer of each of said first and second mist sprayers, and
each of said first and second mist spraying treatments includes said first direction mist spraying treatment and said second direction mist spraying treatment.

8. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first heater provided inside said first heating chamber, the first heater being configured to heat said first heating space without touching said substrate; and
a second heater provided inside said second heating chamber, the second heater being configured to heat said second heating space without touching said substrate, wherein
each of said first and second heaters includes a plurality of partial heaters configured to heat said substrate by radiating infrared light along a plurality of radiation directions different from each other.

9. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
said substrate includes a plurality of substrates.

Assignees

• Toshiba Mitsubishi Electric Industrial Systems Corp

Inventors

• Hiramatsu Takahiro
• Orita Hiroyuki
• NAMITO Nobuyoshi
• Iwao Yusuke

Classifications

• H10F71/00 Primary

  Manufacture or treatment of devices covered by this subclass (patterning processes to connect thin photovoltaic cells in integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells H10F19/33; manufacture or treatment of encapsulations or containers for integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells H10F19/80; manufacture or treatment of integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one element in which radiation controls the flow of current H10F39/00) · CPC title

• C23C16/4582 Primary

  Rigid and flat substrates, e.g. plates or discs (C23C16/4581 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C23C16/0209

  by heating · CPC title

• C23C16/482

  using incoherent light, UV to IR, e.g. lamps · CPC title

• C23C16/54

  Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating · CPC title