Disclosure of Invention
Based on this, it is necessary to provide a plasma emission direction control device to achieve controllability of the emission angle of the plasma and improve the uniformity of the plasma, aiming at least one of the above technical defects.
A plasma emission direction control device applied to a plasma source, the plasma source comprising: an ionization chamber, a radio frequency coil and a gas supply pipeline; wherein one side of the ionization chamber is connected with an ion emission port; the control device includes: an anode provided at the ion emission port position, and an anode power supply connected to the anode;
The anode power supply provides positive electricity for the anode to drive the anode to generate an electric field, and the plasma is emitted according to a set emission angle under the action of the electric field.
In one embodiment, the anode is designed into a circular ring structure and sleeved at a set position between the ion emission port and the ionization chamber.
In one embodiment, the plasma emission direction control device further comprises a controller connected with the anode power supply, and the controller is used for controlling the on-off of the anode power supply and the power supply parameters thereof so as to control the plasma to emit according to a set emission angle.
In one embodiment, the anode is moved in a direction toward the ionization chamber when it is desired to emit a low-divergence plasma; when the plasma with high divergence position needs to be emitted, the anode is moved to the direction far away from the ionization chamber;
When the plasma emission angle needs to be increased, the output voltage of the anode power supply is reduced, and when the plasma emission angle needs to be reduced, the output voltage of the anode power supply is increased.
In one embodiment, the plasma emission direction control device further comprises a chamber structure with adjustable length connected with the ionization chamber, and the chamber structure is used for adjusting the plasma emission position.
In one embodiment, the adjustable length chamber structure includes an insulating chamber assembly of a plurality of different lengths connected to the ionization chamber by an adapter.
According to the plasma emission direction control device, the anode is arranged at the ion emission port of the plasma source, positive electricity is provided for the anode through the anode power supply, and the anode is driven to generate an electric field, so that the plasma is emitted according to a set emission angle under the action of the electric field; according to the technical scheme, the emission angle and coverage of the plasma can be controlled, and the defect of fixed plasma emission position is overcome, so that the controllability of the plasma emission angle is improved, the plasma uniformity is good, and the coating using effect of the plasma source is enhanced.
Furthermore, the length-adjustable chamber structure is designed to prolong the length of the ionization chamber, so that the plasma emission position can be adjusted, a plurality of insulating chamber components with different lengths can be designed for replacement and use, and the use effect of the plasma source is greatly improved.
In addition, the application also provides a plasma source and a starting method thereof, so as to improve the ionization efficiency and ionization effect of the gas.
A plasma source, comprising: the plasma emission direction control device, the ionization chamber, the radio frequency coil, the at least one induction coil and the air supply pipeline; the ionization chamber comprises a first ionization chamber corresponding to the radio frequency coil and a second ionization chamber corresponding to the induction coil; the induction coil is connected in series at the front end of the radio frequency coil, and the first ionization chamber and the second ionization chamber are connected in series;
The gas supply pipeline introduces gas into a first ionization chamber, the gas is ionized by a radio frequency coil, the gas which is not ionized enters a second ionization chamber, and the gas is subjected to secondary ionization by the induction coil and then plasma is output;
The radio frequency coil generates a magnetic field to ionize the gas entering the first ionization chamber, and the induction coil generates an inductance by inducing the magnetic field generated by the radio frequency coil to ionize the gas entering the second ionization chamber.
In one embodiment, the cross-sectional area of the first ionization chamber is smaller than the cross-sectional area of the second ionization chamber; the gas enters the first ionization chamber with high concentration and the gas entering the second ionization chamber with large volume.
In one embodiment, the induction coil comprises a first coil and a second coil connected in series, wherein the first coil is nested within the radio frequency coil, and the second coil is wrapped outside the second ionization chamber.
In one embodiment, the radio frequency coil is wrapped with a metal band for enhancing the magnetic field conduction efficiency of the radio frequency coil.
In one embodiment, a first metal coil is wrapped between the first coil and the radio frequency coil, and is used for enhancing the conductivity of the first coil; the second ionization chamber and the second coil are also provided with a second metal ring for enhancing the conductivity of the second coil.
In one embodiment, the first metal ring and the second metal ring are fixed and connected through a metal connecting column.
In one embodiment, the radio frequency coil is internally provided with a cooling water channel, and the induction coil is internally provided with a cooling water channel.
In one embodiment, the plasma source is provided with a neutralizer at the ion emission port for providing neutralizing electrons to reduce the starting power of the plasma source.
A starting method of a plasma source is applied to the plasma source, and the method comprises the following steps:
Opening a gas supply pipeline to introduce gas;
starting a radio frequency power supply to provide the radio frequency power supply for the radio frequency coil;
Starting a neutralizer, and activating plasma by utilizing electrons output by the neutralizer;
after judging that the plasma source is started successfully, closing the neutralizer;
the plasma source is controlled to enter a normal operating mode.
According to the plasma source and the starting method of the plasma source, the structures of the radio frequency coil and the induction coil are designed, the induction coil generates inductance through the magnetic field generated by the induction radio frequency coil, gas enters the first ionization chamber and is ionized by the radio frequency coil, then the gas sequentially enters the second ionization chamber, and the induction coil gradually performs secondary ionization and then outputs plasma; according to the technical scheme, an induction mode is obtained by designing the magnetic field of the induction coil induction radio frequency coil, so that a multistage radio frequency ionization effect is realized, the ionization efficiency is greatly improved, stable gas ionization can be realized under vacuum low pressure, and the effective reaction in the vacuum deposition process is enhanced.
Furthermore, the structure that the first ionization chamber is smaller than the second ionization chamber is designed, the gas firstly enters the first ionization chamber, the concentration of the gas is highest, the radio frequency coil can conduct ionization with higher density, then the volume of the gas space entering the second ionization chamber is increased, high-efficiency ionization of the gas is facilitated, and the ionization efficiency of the gas is greatly improved.
Furthermore, the conductivity can be enhanced through the metal ring and the metal connecting column by the induction coil, so that the induction inductance efficiency is improved, and the ionization effect is enhanced; the rf coil may enhance magnetic field conduction efficiency through the metal strap.
Further, the neutralizer is arranged on the outer side of the ion emission port to assist in starting the plasma source, and the neutralizer is used for outputting electrons during starting, so that the plasma source can be started under low power, the starting power of the plasma source is reduced, and the use efficiency of the plasma source is improved.
Detailed Description
The present application will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings and examples, in order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the application.
Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a plasma emission direction control device according to an embodiment, and the plasma emission direction control device provided by the present application can be applied to any current plasma source, and for a plasma source, the structure of the plasma source generally includes an ionization chamber 01, a radio frequency coil 10 and a gas supply pipeline 30; wherein one side of the ionization chamber 01 is connected to an ion emission port, and the other side is an air supply port, as shown in fig. 1, a plasma source, which is supplied with air from the right side, and then emits through the left ion emission port after being ionized by the ionization chamber 01.
Taking the above-provided plasma source as an example, the control device of the present application may include an anode 40 provided at the position of the ion emission port, and an anode power source 41 connected to the anode 40; wherein the anode power source 41 supplies positive electricity to the anode 40 to drive the anode 40 to generate an electric field, and when the plasma passes through the anode 40, the plasma is emitted according to a set emission angle under the action of the electric field.
According to the technical scheme of the embodiment, the anode 40 is arranged at the ion emission port of the plasma source, positive electricity is provided for the anode 40 through the anode power supply 41, and the anode 40 is driven to generate an electric field, so that the plasma is emitted according to a set emission angle under the action of the electric field; therefore, the emission angle and coverage of the plasma can be controlled, the defect of fixed emission position of the plasma is overcome, the controllability of the plasma is improved, the uniformity of the plasma is good, and the use effect of the coating film of the plasma source is enhanced.
Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic view of an anode structure; the anode 40 is designed into a circular ring structure and is sleeved at a set position between the ion emission port and the ionization chamber 01, as shown in the figure, the position of the anode 40 can be adjusted according to the actual situation, for example, the anode can be moved to the right side or to the left side; because the different positions of the anode 40 can generate electric fields with different intensities and have different effects on the plasma, in practical application, the electric field of the anode 40 can be adjusted according to the requirements, so that the controllability of the plasma emission direction can be realized. Accordingly, as in fig. 1, the controller 42 may also be provided to control the anode power source 41, and the controller 42 controls the on-off of the anode power source 41 and the power supply parameters of the output thereof, including the output voltage, the current magnitude, and the like, so as to control the plasma to emit at a set emission angle.
In one embodiment, for control of the direction and position of plasma emission, the anode 40 is moved toward the ionization chamber 01 when it is desired to emit a low-divergence plasma; when it is desired to emit a plasma in a highly divergent position, the anode 40 is moved away from the ionization chamber 01; when the plasma emission angle needs to be increased, the output voltage of the anode power supply 41 is lowered, and when the plasma emission angle needs to be decreased, the output voltage of the anode power supply 41 is raised.
Specifically, under otherwise equivalent conditions, the closer the anode 40 is positioned to the plasma source, the lower the plasma emission position, the larger the coverage area; conversely, the higher the plasma emission location, the smaller the coverage area and the higher the ion density within the radiation range. Meanwhile, under other equivalent conditions, the smaller the voltage of the anode 40, the larger the plasma emission angle, the higher the voltage of the anode 40, the smaller the plasma emission angle, and the higher the ion density within the radiation range.
In one embodiment, in order to enhance the control of the plasma emission position, the plasma emission direction control device of the present application may further design a chamber structure 210 with adjustable length connected to the ionization chamber 01, referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the chamber structure with adjustable length, and the chamber structure may extend the position of the ion emission port, so as to adjust the plasma emission position; in this embodiment, the anode 40 may be disposed at positions 1-3 in the figure, which may also act on ions within the chamber structure to adjust its final emission direction.
Further, as shown in fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an insulating chamber component, the chamber structure 210 with adjustable length can design a plurality of insulating chamber components 211 with different lengths, in use, the insulating chamber components 211 with corresponding lengths can be selected according to requirements, and are connected to the ionization chamber 01 through the adaptor 212, and by adjusting the insulating chamber components 211 with different lengths, the lower the length is, the shorter the plasma divergence position is, the longer the length is, and the higher the plasma divergence position is; for the insulating chamber assembly 211, a straight-through inner tooth adapter is adopted, and the adapter 212 is made of quartz insulating material or high-temperature resistant insulating material.
According to the technical scheme of the embodiment, the length-adjustable chamber structure is designed to prolong the length of the ionization chamber 01, so that the plasma emission position can be adjusted, a plurality of insulating chamber components with different lengths can be designed for replacement and use, and the using effect of a plasma source is greatly improved.
To sum up, the directional movement of the plasma is realized by controlling the anode, the plasma input at different positions is realized by adjusting the insulating chamber components with different lengths, and the action position of the plasma is controlled.
An embodiment of the plasma source of the present application is described below.
Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic structural view of a plasma source according to an embodiment, which is shown in a side view in cross section; as shown in the figure, the plasma source provided in this embodiment mainly includes the structure of the plasma emission direction control device, the ionization chamber 01, the radio frequency coil 10, at least one induction coil 20, and the gas supply line 30 provided in the above embodiment; wherein the ionization chamber 01 comprises a first ionization chamber 11 corresponding to the radio frequency coil 10 and a second ionization chamber 21 corresponding to the induction coil 20; at the periphery of the first ionization chamber 11 may be an insulating component of quartz material.
As shown in the drawing, the induction coil 20 is connected in series to the front end of the radio frequency coil 10, and the first ionization chamber 11 and the second ionization chamber 21 are connected in series, for convenience of description, in this embodiment, one induction coil 20 is taken as an example, if a plurality of ionization chambers are required to be connected in series, a plurality of ionization chambers can be continuously connected in series from the drawing to the left side, and the corresponding induction coils can be designed.
In the working process, the gas supply pipeline 30 introduces gas into the first ionization chamber 11, the gas is ionized by the radio frequency coil 10, part of the gas which is not ionized enters the second ionization chamber 21 after the radio frequency coil 10 ionizes, the gas is output to the plasma after the induction coil 20 performs secondary ionization, and the plasma is emitted out from the left opening, and the specific structure is not shown.
In the ionization process, firstly, the radio frequency coil 10 generates a magnetic field to ionize the gas entering the first ionization chamber 11, and the induction coil 20 generates an inductance by inducing the magnetic field generated by the radio frequency coil 10 to ionize the gas entering the second ionization chamber 21; the multi-stage radio frequency ionization effect is truly multi-stage induction and stage-by-stage ionization, and is not ionization of a plurality of radio frequency coils, so that the ionization efficiency is greatly improved, stable gas ionization can be realized under vacuum low pressure, and the effective reaction of the vacuum deposition process is enhanced; since the multistage induction coil and the ionization chamber can be connected in series, the gas can be completely ionized theoretically.
In order to make the technical solution of the present application clearer, further embodiments are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In one embodiment, referring to fig. 5, for improving ionization efficiency of gas, the first ionization chamber 11 is coaxially connected with the second ionization chamber 21, and the cross-sectional area of the first ionization chamber 11 is smaller than the cross-sectional area of the second ionization chamber 21; that is, the gas enters the ionization chamber from small area to large area, and therefore, after entering the first ionization chamber 11, the gas can be ionized with higher density by the radio frequency coil 10 at the moment due to the smaller cavity volume and higher gas concentration, and then enters the second ionization chamber 21, and the structural design of the ionization chamber is beneficial to efficiently ionizing the gas, so that the ionization efficiency of the gas is greatly improved as a whole.
For the radio frequency coil 10 and induction coil 20 structures, referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the coil structure; as illustrated, the induction coil 20 may comprise two parts, a first coil 201 and a second coil 202, connected in series, wherein the first coil 201 is nested within the radio frequency coil 10 and the second coil 202 is wrapped outside said second ionization chamber 21; in this design, the first coil 201 can efficiently sense the magnetic field of the radio frequency coil 10 and conduct to the second coil 202.
With continued reference to fig. 6, further, a first metal coil 221 may be further wrapped between the first coil 201 and the radio frequency coil 10, for enhancing the electrical conductivity of the first coil 201; similarly, the second ionization chamber 21 and the second coil 202 are further provided with a second metal ring 222 for enhancing the conductivity of the second coil 202; preferably, the metal ring is made of copper metal.
As shown in fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a radio frequency coil structure, the radio frequency coil 10 may be further wrapped with a metal strip 12, and connected by brazing, for enhancing the magnetic field conduction efficiency of the radio frequency coil 10, and preferably, the metal strip 12 is made of copper metal. For the radio frequency coil 10, it is connected to a radio frequency power supply through a radio frequency matching network and a matching network controller, and the radio frequency power of the radio frequency coil 10 can be controlled through the matching network controller.
In addition, as described with reference to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an induction coil, and the first metal ring 221 and the second metal ring 222 are fixed and connected by a metal connection post 23, and preferably, the metal connection post 23 is made of copper metal.
According to the scheme of the embodiment, the induction coil can enhance conductivity through the metal ring and the metal connecting column, so that the induction inductance efficiency is improved, and the ionization effect is enhanced; the rf coil may enhance magnetic field conduction efficiency through the metal strap.
Referring to fig. 6 to 8, the rf coil 10 is built with a cooling water path, the induction coil 20 is built with a cooling water path through which the water inlet a1, the water outlet b1, the water inlet a2 and the water outlet b2 of the induction coil 20 of the rf coil 10 are formed as shown in fig. 6 and 7; the cooling water cooling design can efficiently dissipate heat of the radio frequency coil 10 and the induction coil 20, and ensures the stability of a plasma source.
In one embodiment, in order to reduce the starting power, the plasma source of the present application may further include a neutralizer 50 disposed at the ion emission port, where the neutralizer may be set according to practical requirements, as shown in fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the neutralizer, wherein the neutralizer 50 is disposed outside the ion emission port, and may provide neutralizing electrons when the plasma source is started, and fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the neutralizer, wherein the neutralizer 50 is disposed at the ion emission port of the chamber structure 210 with an adjustable length, and wherein the chamber structure 210 with an adjustable length is sleeved with the anode 40, so as to control the plasma emission direction.
According to the technical scheme, a large amount of electrons exist in vacuum, so that the electrons collide with plasma obtained by ionization, the starting power of a plasma source can be reduced, and an empirical practical measurement result shows that the plasma source can be started only by thousands of watts of power generally.
Based on the above-provided neutralizer technical scheme, an embodiment of a method for starting a plasma source is described below; as shown in fig. 11, fig. 11 is a flowchart of a method for starting a plasma source, which mainly includes:
S1, starting a gas supply pipeline to introduce gas; specifically, the gas flow meter is turned on to start introducing the reacted gas.
S2, starting a radio frequency power supply to provide the radio frequency power supply for the radio frequency coil, and ionizing the gas to generate plasma; where the plasma source is started and the gas starts to ionize within the ionization chamber.
S3, starting the neutralizer, and activating plasma by utilizing electrons output by the neutralizer; specifically, the neutralizer is turned on to supply electrons to the plasma source.
S4, after judging that the plasma source is started successfully, closing the neutralizer; specifically, a large amount of electron plasmas collide in vacuum, so that the neutralizer can be turned off after low-power start is successful.
And s5, controlling the plasma source to enter a normal working mode.
According to the plasma source and the starting method thereof, the neutralizer is arranged outside the ion emission port to assist in starting the plasma source, and electrons are output by the starting neutralizer during starting, so that the plasma source can be started under low power, the starting power of the plasma source is reduced, and the use efficiency of the plasma source is improved.
By combining the technical scheme of the embodiment, the multi-stage radio frequency ionization effect is realized, the ionization efficiency is greatly improved, stable gas ionization can be realized under vacuum low pressure, and the effective reaction in the vacuum deposition process is enhanced; realizes stable gas ionization effect under low pressure (E-2 Pa in high vacuum environment).
The above examples illustrate only a few embodiments of the application, which are described in detail and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the application. It should be noted that it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the application, which are all within the scope of the application. Accordingly, the scope of protection of the present application is to be determined by the appended claims.