Patent ID: 8025734

Claim:
A molecular beam source for evaporating a material of a thin-film element and depositing the thin-film element on a film-forming surface, comprising: a crucible for containing the material of the thin-film element; a heater for heating the crucible containing the material of the thin-film element and generating molecules of the material of the thin-film element; a molecule discharge passage for discharging the molecules of the material of the thin-film element generated in the crucible towards the film-forming surface; a vacuum container having a hermetically sealed structure for receiving said crucible, said heater and said molecule discharge passage therein; a valve for adjusting the volume of a molecular beam discharged from the molecule discharge passage; a detection means for detecting the volume of the molecular beam discharged towards said film-forming surface; a first controller programmed to adjust the opening of the valve based on feed-back information of the detected volume of the molecules of the thin-film element material; an electric power source for supplying electric power to the heater; and a second controller programmed to adjust the electric power supplied to the heater based on the feedback information of the detected volume of the molecules of the thin-film element material and valve opening information and adjusting the electric power supplied to the heater when a value corresponding to the opening of the valve exceeds a predetermined upper limit or is less than a predetermined lower limit.