CN-122013127-A - Industrial real-time process control method and system for magnetron sputtering continuous coating line

CN122013127ACN 122013127 ACN122013127 ACN 122013127ACN-122013127-A

Abstract

The invention provides an industrial real-time process control method and system for a magnetron sputtering continuous coating line, wherein the method comprises the steps of obtaining a vacuum degree value and output voltage and current of a sputtering power supply in a steady-state operation state, executing basic closed-loop control on the air inflow and output power of process gas, monitoring an air suction depressurization fluctuation gradient and extracting a microscopic air release interference factor when a substrate to be coated is in a feeding buffer chamber stage, carrying out space time sequence mapping by combining a linear speed of a conveying mechanism, calculating a target wave time window when the substrate enters the magnetron sputtering chamber, applying feedforward dynamic compensation control when the system runs to the window, executing synchronous pulse intervention and adjusting the rotating speed of an air pump to form a differential pressure air curtain until the window is over and recovering the basic closed-loop control. The invention suppresses dynamic interference caused by microscopic deflation of the base material and maintains the stability of the film forming process environment.

Inventors

WANG ZHENG
ZHANG CONG
ZHANG XINYUE

Assignees

深圳市瑞泓塑胶五金镀膜技术有限公司

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20260316

Claims (10)

1. The industrial real-time process control method for the magnetron sputtering continuous coating line is applied to the magnetron sputtering continuous coating line, and comprises the following steps of: Obtaining a vacuum degree value and output voltage and output current of a sputtering power supply in the magnetron sputtering chamber under a steady-state operation state; Performing basic closed-loop control on an intake amount of process gas in the magnetron sputtering chamber and an output power of the sputtering power supply based on the vacuum degree value, the output voltage and the output current; The industrial real-time process control method is characterized by further comprising the following steps of: monitoring the pumping and depressurization fluctuation gradient of the feeding buffer chamber in real time when the substrate to be coated is in the feeding buffer chamber stage; Extracting microscopic gassing interference factors of the substrate to be coated according to the pumping and depressurization fluctuation gradient; Carrying out space time sequence mapping on the microcosmic gassing interference factors by combining the transmission line speed of the substrate transmission mechanism, and calculating a target wave and time window when the substrate to be coated enters the magnetron sputtering chamber; When the system time runs to the target sweep time window, feedforward dynamic compensation control is applied to the magnetron sputtering chamber; The feedforward dynamic compensation control comprises the steps of executing synchronous pulse intervention on the sputtering power supply and the process gas inflow, and adjusting the rotating speeds of the adjacent chamber sucking pumps according to the microcosmic air release interference factors to form a differential pressure air curtain until the target sweep time window is finished, and recovering the basic closed-loop control.
2. The industrial real-time process control method for a magnetron sputtering continuous coating line according to claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining the vacuum value and the output voltage and the output current of the sputtering power supply in the steady-state operation state in the magnetron sputtering chamber comprises: Obtaining original vacuum data through Pirani vacuum gauges distributed in the magnetron sputtering chamber; acquiring original voltage data and original current data of the sputtering power supply through a Hall sensor; and performing Kalman filtering processing on the original vacuum data, the original voltage data and the original current data, and removing abrupt noise points to generate the vacuum degree value, the output voltage and the output current.
3. The industrial real-time process control method for a magnetron sputtering continuous coating line according to claim 2, wherein the step of performing basic closed-loop control of an amount of process gas intake in the magnetron sputtering chamber and an output power of the sputtering power supply based on the vacuum level value, the output voltage, and the output current comprises: inputting the vacuum degree value, the output voltage and the output current into a preset proportional-integral-derivative regulator; Calculating the difference value between the vacuum degree value and the standard vacuum set value, and outputting a valve adjusting instruction to a mass flow controller so as to change the air inflow of the process gas; Calculating the product of the output voltage and the output current to obtain real-time power, comparing the deviation of the real-time power and the nominal power, and outputting a duty ratio adjusting instruction to the sputtering power supply to correct the output power.
4. The industrial real-time process control method for a magnetron sputtering continuous coating line according to claim 3, wherein the substrate transfer mechanism is further synchronously controlled while performing basic closed-loop control of an intake amount of process gas in the magnetron sputtering chamber and an output power of the sputtering power supply, comprising the steps of: reading target surface deposition residence time set in the current processing formula; calculating a reference conveying speed based on the physical length of the target material in the magnetron sputtering chamber and the target surface deposition residence time; And a servo driver for transmitting the reference conveying speed to the substrate conveying mechanism as the conveying line speed.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the preparing step is further performed before the substrate to be coated is in the feed buffer chamber stage: After the substrate conveying mechanism sends the substrate to be coated into the feeding buffer chamber, a feeding cabin door is closed; And starting a rough pumping pump of the feeding buffer chamber, so that the pressure in the feeding buffer chamber is reduced to a transition vacuum interval, and a physical isolation environment is constructed for the substrate to be coated to enter the magnetron sputtering chamber.
6. The industrial real-time process control method for a magnetron sputtering continuous coating line according to claim 1, wherein the step of extracting the microscopic gassing interference factor of the substrate to be coated according to the pumping step-down fluctuation gradient comprises: obtaining a standard air extraction depressurization curve of the feeding buffer chamber in an empty substrate-free state; Extracting an actual measured depressurization curve in the actual gas extraction process of the substrate to be coated, and deriving the actual measured depressurization curve over time to generate the gas extraction depressurization fluctuation gradient; comparing the slope difference of the pumping and depressurization fluctuation gradient and the standard pumping and depressurization curve; And performing integral operation on the slope differences of all sampling points, and defining an integral operation result as the microscopic gassing interference factor.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step of performing spatial time sequence mapping on the microscopic gassing interference factor in combination with the transmission line speed of the substrate transmission mechanism to calculate a target sweep time window for the substrate to be coated to enter the magnetron sputtering chamber comprises: Acquiring a space physical span between the feeding buffer chamber and the magnetron sputtering chamber target core area; dividing the space physical span by the conveying line speed to obtain travel delay time consumption; Combining the physical size span corresponding to the microcosmic gassing interference factor and the conveying line speed to calculate the interference sweep duration; and generating the target sweep time window with definite start and stop nodes according to the current clock of the system, the travel delay time consumption and the interference sweep duration.
8. The industrial real-time process control method for a magnetron sputtering continuous coating line according to claim 7, wherein the step of performing a synchronized pulsing intervention on the sputtering power supply and the process gas intake amount and adjusting the rotational speed of the adjacent chamber suction pump according to the microscopic gassing interference factor to form a differential pressure air curtain comprises: in the target sweep time window, the instantaneous peak value of the air inflow of the process gas is lifted according to the microscopic gassing interference factor, and the pulse conduction time of the sputtering power supply is synchronously shortened so as to suppress abnormal glow discharge; Controlling an air inlet end air pump positioned at the position where the feeding buffer chamber and the magnetron sputtering chamber are bordered to increase the rotating speed, synchronously controlling a discharge end air pump to reduce the rotating speed, and constructing the differential pressure air curtain with the pressure of the target surface core area higher than the pressure of the feeding end and the discharge end in the magnetron sputtering chamber; and the differential pressure air curtain is used for blocking impurity gas generated by microscopic deflation from diffusing to the periphery.
9. The industrial real-time process control method for a magnetron sputtering continuous coating line according to claim 8, wherein the step of recovering the basic closed-loop control until the end of the target sweep time window comprises: Continuously monitoring a system clock; stopping the synchronous pulsing intervention when the system clock crosses the end node of the target sweep time window and the residual influence of the pumping buck fluctuation gradient is lower than a safety threshold; And (3) canceling the rotating speed adjusting instruction of the air suction pump at the air inlet end and the air suction pump at the discharging end, eliminating the differential pressure air curtain, and enabling the system logic to be restored to the basic closed-loop control.
10. An industrial real-time process control system for a magnetron sputtering continuous coating line, comprising: a control host unit in which a processor and a memory are disposed; the memory stores industrial control program codes; the processor, when retrieving and executing the industrial control program code, performs the control steps involved in the industrial real-time process control method for magnetron sputtering continuous coating lines as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9.

Description

Industrial real-time process control method and system for magnetron sputtering continuous coating line Technical Field The invention relates to the technical field of process control of magnetron sputtering vacuum coating equipment, in particular to an industrial real-time process control method and system for a magnetron sputtering continuous coating line. Background At present, the magnetron sputtering continuous coating technology is widely applied to the large-scale industrial production of various film materials. In a continuously running coating line, a substrate to be coated generally needs to pass through a plurality of vacuum chambers with different pressure gradients, such as a feed buffer chamber, a magnetron sputtering chamber, and the like, in sequence by means of a substrate conveying mechanism, so as to complete the whole film deposition process. In order to ensure the deposition quality of the film, a film plating equipment control system generally collects the vacuum degree in each cavity and the output electric parameters of a sputtering power supply, and performs closed-loop feedback adjustment on the air inflow of the process gas and the power supply power according to the vacuum degree and the output electric parameters, so that the film forming environment is maintained relatively stable. The surface of the substrate to be coated and the interior of the pores of the microstructure of the substrate often absorb a certain amount of ambient gas molecules and moisture. When the substrates are sent into the feeding buffer chamber by the pre-mechanism and subjected to preliminary vacuumizing and depressurization, the attached gas molecules are continuously released outwards along with the reduction of the external environment pressure. The deflation phenomenon at the microscopic level enables the substrate to carry local gas load, and the substrate is directly carried into a core magnetron sputtering film forming area in a high vacuum working state along with the translational movement of the substrate conveying mechanism. The release of impurity gases accompanying the movement of the substrate can cause transient changes in the composition and pressure of the mixed gas in the local space of the target surface. The existing closed-loop process control scheme mainly relies on sensors distributed in a cavity to collect macroscopic steady-state data, and corresponding adjustment instructions are generated after substantial deviation of global pressure or electrical parameters is detected. Because of the objective time differences in both the physical evolution of gas diffusion and sensor data sampling, feedback-adjustment-based intervention tends to lag the transient impact of substrate outgassing. When the control system issues correction parameters, the local environment of the target surface may have been distorted or abnormal glow discharge may occur. How to pre-judge the dynamic influence of the substrate gassing phenomenon on the local process environment under the existing hardware architecture and implement the pre-control intervention before the interference wave and the target surface deposition process is a technical problem to be solved by the technicians in the field. Disclosure of Invention The invention aims to provide an industrial real-time process control method and system for a magnetron sputtering continuous coating line, which are used for solving the problems pointed out in the background technology. In a first aspect, the invention provides an industrial real-time process control method for a magnetron sputtering continuous coating line, which is applied to the magnetron sputtering continuous coating line, wherein the magnetron sputtering continuous coating line comprises a feeding buffer chamber, a magnetron sputtering chamber and a substrate conveying mechanism, and the industrial real-time process control method comprises the following steps: Obtaining a vacuum degree value and output voltage and output current of a sputtering power supply in the magnetron sputtering chamber under a steady-state operation state; Performing basic closed-loop control on an intake amount of process gas in the magnetron sputtering chamber and an output power of the sputtering power supply based on the vacuum degree value, the output voltage and the output current; The industrial real-time process control method further comprises the following steps: monitoring the pumping and depressurization fluctuation gradient of the feeding buffer chamber in real time when the substrate to be coated is in the feeding buffer chamber stage; Extracting microscopic gassing interference factors of the substrate to be coated according to the pumping and depressurization fluctuation gradient; Carrying out space time sequence mapping on the microcosmic gassing interference factors by combining the transmission line speed of the substrate transmission mechanism, and calculating a target wave and time window wh