A method for coating substrates with a decorative layer of hard material which is guided into a vacuum coating chamber. The decorative layer of hard material is deposited by a reactive HIPIMS-process, and the energy content in the power pulses is controlled in such a manner that the deposited layer of hard material has a homogeneous colour, a high degree of smoothness and a high strength.

A method of depositing a film on a substrate is provided. The method includes positioning the substrate on a substrate support in a chamber and depositing the film on the substrate using a DC magnetron sputtering process in which an electrical bias signal causes ions to bombard the substrate. The substrate support includes a central region surrounded by an edge region, the central region being raised with respect to the edge region, and the substrate is positioned on the central region so that a portion of the substrate overlays the edge region and is spaced apart therefrom.

An insulation board includes a body; first bulges, disposed on the body and extending toward a first direction; and second bulges, disposed on the body and extending toward a second direction, and the first bulges and the second bulges are staggered, and the first direction is opposed to the second direction.

A substrate fixing carrier includes a supporting frame and a cooling plate. The supporting frame defines a hollow region and a supporting portion at an inner wall of the supporting frame. The cooling plate and the supporting frame are movable towards each other until the cooling plate is in the hollow region with edges of the cooling plate aligning with the supporting portion. When a rectangular to-be-evaporated substrate is placed in the hollow region with edges of the rectangular to-be-evaporated substrate between the supporting portion and the cooling plate, a distance between each edge of the cooling plate corresponding to each long side of the to-be-evaporated substrate and the supporting portion is greater than or equal to a thickness of the to-be-evaporated substrate, and a distance between each edge of the cooling plate corresponding to each short side of the to-be-evaporated substrate and the supporting portion is less than the thickness of the to-be-evaporated substrate.

Provided is a gas discharge roil, which includes: an inner roll, which has a rotary shaft; an outer roll, which is fitted and integrated with an outer peripheral surface of the inner roll; gas introduction grooves, which are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the inner roll over an entire circumference thereof at substantially uniform intervals along a circumferential direction of the inner roll so as to extend along a rotary shaft direction of the inner roll, and which are configured to define gas introduction channels between an inner peripheral surface of the outer roll and the gas introduction grooves; and a group of gas discharge holes formed on the outer roll so as to penetrate through to the gas introduction channels. A circumferential cutoff rate of a gas introduction channel cross-section is 36% or less, or a porosity within a gas introduction range is 20% or less.

A magnet unit for a magnetron sputtering apparatus is disposed above the target has: a yoke made of magnetic material and is disposed to lie opposite to the target; and plural pieces of magnets disposed on a lower surface of the yoke, wherein a leakage magnetic field in which a line passing through a position where the vertical component of the magnetic field becomes zero is closed in an endless manner, is caused to locally act on such a lower space of the target as is positioned between the center of the target and a periphery thereof, the magnet unit being driven for rotation about the center of the target. In a predetermined position of the yoke there is formed a recessed groove in a circumferentially elongated manner along an imaginary circle with the center of the target serving as a center.

A heater comprises a folded heater wire, a first insulator provided on the folded heater wire, a metal sheath in contact with a part of the first insulator, a first insulating member arranged in parallel to a part of a first end of the folded heater wire taken out from a first end of the metal sheath, a second insulating member arranged in parallel to a part of the first insulating member and parallel to a part of a second end of the folded heater wire taken out from the first end of the metal sheath, a third insulating member arranged in parallel to a part of the first insulating member and the second insulating member, and bundle the first insulating member and the second insulating member, and a cylindrical member arranged in parallel to a part of the metal sheath and the third insulating member.

The vacuum processing apparatus of this invention has: a vacuum chamber capable of forming vacuum atmosphere; and a stage for supporting inside the vacuum chamber a to-be-processed substrate. The stage has: a base to be selectively cooled; a chuck plate disposed on the base so as to electrostatically absorb the to-be-processed substrate; and a hot plate interposed between the base and the chuck plate, whereby the to-be-processed substrate electrostatically absorbed to the surface of the chuck plate is controlled to a predetermined temperature above the room temperature. The vacuum processing apparatus further has: a thermal insulation plate, disposed between the base and the hot plate, for restraining thermal transmission from the hot plate to the base. A high-emissivity layer having a higher emissivity than an upper surface of the base is disposed between the base and the thermal insulation plate.

A system and method are provided for depositing a substance onto a substrate, the system comprising: a chamber adapted to operate under high vacuum; an apparatus for receiving and cleaning the substrate to produce a clean substrate and for delivering the clean substrate to a coating position in the chamber under high vacuum; a carrier assembly for receiving the clean substrate from the apparatus and for retaining the substrate at the coating position; an evaporator adapted to hold a supply of the substance in the chamber and to evaporate and produce a discharge of the substance; and a collimator disposed within the chamber between the supply of the substance and the carrier assembly, the collimator being configured to define an aperture proximal to the substrate and to capture the discharge but for that which is directed through the aperture.

According to one embodiment, a film formation apparatus and a moisture removing method thereof that can facilitate the removement of moisture in the chamber without the complication of the apparatus are provided. The film formation apparatus according to the present embodiment includes the chamber 10 which an interior thereof can be made vacuum, the exhauster 20 that exhausts the interior of the chamber 10, the carrier 30 that circularly carries the workpiece W by a rotation table 31 provided inside the chamber 10, and the plurality of the plasma processor 40 that performs plasma processing on the workpiece W which is circularly carried, in which the plurality of the plasma processor 40 each has the processing spaces 41 and 42 to perform the plasma processing, at least one of the plurality of the plasma processor 40 is the film formation processor 410 that performs film formation processing by sputtering on the workpiece W which is circularly carried, and at least one of the plurality of the plasma processor 40 is the heater 420 that removes moisture in the chamber 10 by producing plasma and heating the interior of the chamber 10 via the rotation table 31 together with exhaustion by the exhauster 20 and rotation by the rotation table 31 in a condition the film formation process by the film formation processor 410 is not performed.