DIAMOND LIKE CARBON COATING OF SUBSTRATE HOUSINGS

• US 20100017346A1
• Filed: 06/14/2007
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Entegris Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Entegris Incorporated
• Inventors: Extrand, Charles W., Moon, Sung In
• Granted Patent: US 8,012,586 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/400
• CPC Class Codes: C09D 1/00 Coating compositions, e.g. paints, varnishes or lacquers, based on inorganic substances
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/26 Deposition of carbon only
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 5/069 Other details of the casing, e.g. wall structure, passage for a connector, a cable, a shaft
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/1379 Contains vapor or gas barrier, polymer derived from vinyl chloride or vinylidene chloride, or polymer containing a vinyl alcohol unit
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/30 Self-sustaining carbon mass or layer with impregnant or other layer
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/31507 Of polycarbonate

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention include articles comprising a diamond like carbon coating or doped diamond like carbon coating on one or more surfaces of a plastic substrate or a plastic enclosure. Embodiments of the DLC or doped DLC coatings reduce the gas permeation of the coated plastic or thermoplastic to hydrogen or helium compared to the permeability of the plastic alone. The DLC or doped DLC coatings coating provides a surface resistivity of from about 10⁷ to about 10¹⁴ ohm/square and have a transmittance that range from about 0% to about 70% less than the transmittance of the underlying plastic substrate in the range of about 300 nm to about 1100 nm. The DLC coated plastic can be used in environmental enclosures for protecting environmentally sensitive substrates such as semiconductor wafers and reticles.

Claims

1. An article comprising:

a thermoplastic and an adherent diamond like carbon coating on one or more surfaces of said thermoplastic, said adherent diamond like carbon coating has a permeability coefficient for helium gas that is at least 10 times less than the permeability coefficient for helium of said thermoplastic, the diamond like carbon coating has a surface resistivity of from about 10⁷ to about 10¹⁴ ohm/square and said adherent diamond like carbon coating has a transmittance that is 0% to 70% less than the transmittance of said thermoplastic to light in the range of 300 nm to 1100 nm.

2. The article of claim 1 where the adherent diamond like carbon coating is a doped diamond like carbon that further comprises nitrogen or oxygen.

3. The article of claim 1 where the article is an enclosure for environmentally sensitive substrates.

4. The article of claim 1 where the surface resistivity of the adherent diamond like carbon coating provides a surface resistivity in the range of 10⁸ ohm per square to 10¹² ohm per square.

5. The article of claim 1 where the surface resistivity of the adherent diamond like carbon coating provides a surface resistivity in the range of 10⁹ ohm per square to 10¹² ohm per square.

6. The article of claim 1 where the adherent diamond like carbon coating has a variation of surface resistivity that is less than 10² ohm per square.

7. The article of claim 1 where the adherent diamond like carbon coating has a variation of surface resistivity that is less than 10¹ ohm per square.

8. The article of claim 1 where the adherent diamond like carbon coating has an XPS spectra that has a carbon peak, an oxygen peak, and a nitrogen peak.

9. The article of claim 8 where the XPS spectrum of said adherent diamond like carbon coating includes a carbon peak at about 284 eV, an oxygen peak at about 532 eV, and a nitrogen peak at about 399 eV.

10. The article of claim 1 where the adherent diamond like carbon coating is further treated by a plasma, a reactive gas containing plasma, or corona discharge, an oxygen containing plasma, to form a hydrophilic adherent diamond like carbon coating.

11. The article of claim 1 where the article is a substrate carrier.

12. A method comprising:

selling a substrate enclosure having at least one diamond like carbon or doped diamond like carbon coated surface on a thermoplastic of said enclosure, said diamond like carbon or doped diamond like carbon coated surface has a surface resistivity in the range of from 10⁷ ohm per square to 10¹⁴ ohm per square and a percent transmittance that is at least 70% of the thermoplastic from 300 nm to 1100 nm, and a gas permeation coefficient for helium of 0.59 Barrers or less.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the act of making said substrate enclosure having at least one diamond like carbon or doped diamond like carbon coated surface.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising testing said substrate enclosure having at least one diamond like carbon or doped diamond like carbon coated surface for gas permeation, surface resistivity, percent light transmittance, or any combination of these and sorting the enclosures based on the testing.

15. The method of claim 14 where the substrate enclosure having at least one diamond like carbon or doped diamond like carbon coated surface are sorted based on their surface resistivity.

16. A method comprising:

determining client requirements for protecting a substrate with a housing having at least one diamond like carbon or doped diamond like carbon coated surface, said requirements include the surface resistivity of the coated surface, light transmittance of the coated surface, gas permeability of the coated surface, or any combination of these; and

contacting a central server or database to input the client requirements for protecting the substrate with a housing having at least one diamond like carbon or doped diamond like carbon coated surface and coating at least one housing surface with a diamond like carbon coating or a doped diamond like coating to meet the client requirements.

17. The method of claim 16 further including the steps of determining a price for the housings having at least one diamond like carbon or doped diamond like carbon coated surface;

providing the client with a price for the housings having at least one diamond like carbon or doped diamond like carbon coated surface; and

providing a time for delivery of the housings having at least one diamond like carbon or doped diamond like carbon coated surface to the client.