METHOD OF FORMING THIN FILM BY MICROPLASMA PROCESSING AND APPARATUS FOR THE SAME

摘要

A method of forming, with satisfactory adhesion, a thin film of a metal or a metal compound, such as a metal oxide or nitride, on a substrate made of a high-melting material such as silicon or a ceramic by using metallic and metal-compound targets as the main raw material to thereby eliminate the necessity of using a harmful gas such as an organometal gas and by using an atmospheric-pressure plasma generated at ordinary pressure as a reaction field and also as a heat source. Also provided is an apparatus for forming the thin film. The method of thin-film formation by plasma processing comprises disposing a raw material for thin-film formation in each of one or more thin tubes (A) having an even inner diameter throughout, introducing an inert gas into the thin tube (A) and applying a high-frequency voltage to the thin tube (A) to generate a high-frequency plasma in the thin tube (A), heating/evaporating the raw material while maintaining a flow rate of the plasma gas in the thin tube (A) and keeping the temperature of the high-temperature plasma gas high, ejecting the evaporated material from the thin tube (A), and striking it on the substrate to heat the substrate with the plasma gas and cause the material which is being struck to deposit on the substrate at atmospheric pressure.