Sony Corporation

Shibaura Mechatronics Corporation

Other

Shibaura Engineering Works Co., Ltd.

Kabushiki Kaisha Shibaura Seisakusho

Tokuda Seisakusho Co., Ltd.

Shibaura Mechatronics Kabushiki Kaisha

Jiro Ikeda

Kyoji Kinokiri

Yuichiro Shimose

Naoki Kato

Yoshitake Yanagisawa

Yoji Takizawa

Yoshifumi Oda

Eiji Konoshima

To provide a vacuum processing apparatus applicable to various manufacturing processes, by efficiently and highly reliably stacking films of various types and thicknesses and by downsizing the manufacturing apparatus by suppressing size increase of the apparatus due to increase of the number of film forming chambers caused by increase and complexity of process steps. A vacuum processing apparatus is provided with a plurality of film forming process parts which are provided with rotating transfer tables and film forming chambers. The rotating transfer tables form a transfer path for a work to be processed, in chambers which can be vacuum-exhausted. The film forming chambers are provided for depositing a film on the work to be processed which is arranged and transferred along a circumference which has a rotating shaft of the rotating transfer table as a center. The vacuum processing apparatus is also provided with a connecting part which connects the film forming process parts so as to share a vacuum space between the chambers, and the work to be processed in the film forming process parts is mutually transferred in the vacuum. A load lock mechanism is provided in one of the film forming process part or in the connecting part.

Vacuum processing device

The invention provides a vacuum apparatus, which is equipped with a drive mechanism of small size and does not need a special mechanism for vacuum seals. This drive mechanism includes an air bag container which is provided fixedly in an airtight vessel with one end open, an air bag stored in the container, and a source for supplying high pressure gas penetrating through the air bag container A part of the air bag is projected from the open end of the air bag container by supplying air bag with a high pressure gas with a high pressure gas supply source thereby moving objects in the vacuum vessel.

Vacuum apparatus and driving mechanism therefor

Magnetron sputtering apparatus for single substrate processing

An optical disc for use as a compact disc, an optical video disc, or the like has a disc substrate of a light-transmissive material such as polycarbonate, PMMA, or the like. The disc substrate has a pattern of pits and lands formed as representing an information signal on at least one surface thereof. A thin reflective layer of a-corrosion-resistant metallic material such as an alloy of Fe, Ni, and Co is deposited on the disc substrate over the pattern of pits and lands. The optical disc is relatively inexpensive to manufacture as no protective layer needs to be deposited on the reflective layer and is also highly resistant to loss of performance with aging because the reflective layer is made of a corrosion-resistant metallic material.

Optical disc with corrosion-resistant metallic reflective layer

A suction head having plural suction pads on both surfaces thereof is used to transfer a substrate of a compack disk and the like from one position to another for loading. The suction head is connected to a rotating shaft rotatable and movable in a vertical direction. The rotating shaft causes the suction head to turn over and move in an up-and-down direction. The suction pads on both surfaces of the suction head are connected to a pair of flexible pipes which are wound around the shaft and connected respectively to exhaust systems. Thus, the suction pads capture and release the substrate by suction control so as to load the same at a prescribed position. Further, a shock absorber is provided to relieve a shock upon the stoppage of the suction head in vertical and rotational reciprocating motions.

Loading apparatus having a suction-hold mechanism

An improved sputtering apparatus is provided which can judge whether or not a normal thin film has been satisfactorily deposited on the surface of a substrate to be processed in a film deposition apparatus. The judgment is made immediately after the sputtering process on the basis of the detection results of the pressure in a vacuum chamber and the waveform of discharge output power supplied from a discharge power source. The improvement comprises necessary condition-determining means for determining conditions necessary for depositing a normal thin film on the surface of the substrate to be processed, executed result-detecting means for detecting the results of a thin film deposition process, comparing means for comparing the executed results detected by the executed result-detecting means with the necessary conditions determined by the necessary condition-determining means, and judging means for judging whether or not the thin film-deposition process has been satisfactorily performed on the basis of the comparison results produced from the comparing means. Further, when the improved sputtering apparatus of this invention is employed in the continuous manufacturing line, the abnormalities in the film deposition process can be detected at the earlist possible step in the line, whereby the efficiency thereof can be significantly enhanced.

Sputtering apparatus

A sucked substrate detecting apparatus is provided which comprises sucking pads for sucking disk substrates, a main pipe connected to the sucking pads, a vacuum pump connected through a first valve to the main pipe, first and second branch pipes connected respectively to the main pipe, a second valve connected to the first branch pipe, for opening and closing with respect to the atmosphere, a pressure sensor connected to the second branch pipe, for substantially detecting the pressure in the main pipe, and a controller connected to the first and second valves. The sucked substrate detecting apparatus can judge on the basis of the output levels produced from the pressure sensor, the presence or absence of a disk substrate sucked by the sucking pads and whether or not the disk substrate has been satisfactorily sucked by the sucking pads.

Sucked substrate detecting apparatus

In a sputtering apparatus comprising a film-deposition chamber having a gas-supplying pipe connected thereto, for depositing a film on the surface of a substrate to be processed, a target provided in the film-deposition chamber, a mask having an opening portion and a masking portion, the mask being provided opposing to the target in the film-deposition chamber, and holding means for holding the substrate against the mask in such a manner that the film-depositing surface of the substrate is in close contact with the mask, the improvement according to the present invention comprises a mask having exhaust passages formed in the masking portion thereof, each of exhaust passages having one end exposed to the inside of the film-deposition chamber and the other end exposed to the outside of the film-deposition chamber, the one end of each of the exhaust passages and the other end thereof being communicated with each other, but not seen through each other.

Sputtering apparatus and system for sputtering employing same

The sputtering apparatus for the present invention is used for manufacturing optical discs. On loading and unloading of disc substrates to and from a vacuum chamber, a disc entrance and exit opening provided on the vacuum chamber is closed by a tray having an opening at the center thereof on which the disc substrate is placed and a push up rod having a closing side closing the opening of the tray on the lower side thereof. Sealing of the disc entrance and exit opening may be made positive and the vacuum chamber is uniformly evacuated so that an excellent sputtering can be performed.

In manufacturing a record matrix from a lacquer master having a sound groove in a surface thereof, a basic reduction solution containing borohydride compound and an acidic metal salt solution containing nickel salt, ammonium salt and lactic acid are sprayed against the surface of the master having the sound groove for effecting the electroless plating thereon of a nickel surface metal layer having thereon a projection strip coincident with the sound groove, a reinforcing layer is formed over the surface metal layer and its reinforcing layer are peeled off from the lacquer master along the boundary therebetween to provide the record matrix.

Growing community of inventors

Shizuoka, Japan

Jiro Ikeda