System and method for vacuum deposition of thin films
First Claim
1. In a system for vacuum evaporation of material onto a substrate,a vacuum chamber;
- means for evacuating said vacuum chamber;
a substrate holder mounted within said vacuum chamber for carrying at least one substrate;
an electrically conductive crucible positioned within said vacuum chamber and electrically insulated therefrom but having a low electrical resistance connection therebetween, said crucible being adapted to contain a preselected material for evaporation onto a substrate on said substrate holder;
a high voltage electron beam source positioned within said vacuum chamber in the vicinity of said crucible and including a high voltage electron gun and a deflection magnet system arranged for bending electrons from said gun into said crucible for evaporating said preselected material therein, said magnet system forming a magnetic field of prearranged characteristics in the region above said crucible;
a low voltage, high current plasma source, including a separate plasma generating chamber, positioned relative to said vacuum chamber to produce an intense first plasma of a selected activation gas species in said plasma generating chamber for injection into said vacuum chamber, said plasma source being positioned at any convenient location relative to said crucible and said electron beam source and being electrically interconnected with said crucible for current flow therebetween;
said plasma source thereby filling said vacuum chamber with a generally distributed plasma, and said distributed plasma coacting with said magnetic field above said crucible and evaporant material leaving said crucible to form an intense second plasma in the region above said crucible, thereby activating said evaporant material passing through said region toward said substrate to produce a vacuum deposited thin film comprising said material and having improved thin film characteristics.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A substrate holder is mounted within the vacuum chamber for carrying at least one substrate; an electrically conductive crucible is positioned within said vacuum chamber and is electrically insulated therefrom but has a low electrical resistance connection therebetween. The crucible is adapted to contain a preselected material for evaporation onto a substrate on the substrate holder. A high voltage electron beam source is positioned within said vacuum chamber in the vicinity of said crucible and includes a high voltage electron gun and a deflection magnet system arranged for bending electrons from said gun into said crucible for evaporating the preselected material therein, the magnet system forms a magnet field of prearranged characteristics in the region above said crucible. A low voltage, high current plasma source, including a separate plasma generating chamber is positioned relative to said vacuum chamber to produce an intense first plasma of a selected activation gas species in said plasma generating chamber for injection into said vacuum chamber. The plasma source is positioned at any convenient location relative to the crucible and the electron beam source and is electrically interconnected with the crucible for current flow therebetween. The plasma source fills the vacuum chamber with a generally distributed plasma. The distributed plasma coacts with the magnetic field above said crucible and evaporant material leaving the crucible to form an intense second plasma in the region above said crucible, thereby activating the evaporant material passing through the region toward the substrate to produce a vacuum deposited thin film having improved thin film characteristics.
31 Citations
9 Claims
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1. In a system for vacuum evaporation of material onto a substrate,
a vacuum chamber; -
means for evacuating said vacuum chamber; a substrate holder mounted within said vacuum chamber for carrying at least one substrate; an electrically conductive crucible positioned within said vacuum chamber and electrically insulated therefrom but having a low electrical resistance connection therebetween, said crucible being adapted to contain a preselected material for evaporation onto a substrate on said substrate holder; a high voltage electron beam source positioned within said vacuum chamber in the vicinity of said crucible and including a high voltage electron gun and a deflection magnet system arranged for bending electrons from said gun into said crucible for evaporating said preselected material therein, said magnet system forming a magnetic field of prearranged characteristics in the region above said crucible; a low voltage, high current plasma source, including a separate plasma generating chamber, positioned relative to said vacuum chamber to produce an intense first plasma of a selected activation gas species in said plasma generating chamber for injection into said vacuum chamber, said plasma source being positioned at any convenient location relative to said crucible and said electron beam source and being electrically interconnected with said crucible for current flow therebetween; said plasma source thereby filling said vacuum chamber with a generally distributed plasma, and said distributed plasma coacting with said magnetic field above said crucible and evaporant material leaving said crucible to form an intense second plasma in the region above said crucible, thereby activating said evaporant material passing through said region toward said substrate to produce a vacuum deposited thin film comprising said material and having improved thin film characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. In a system for depositing thin film coatings,
a vacuum chamber, substrate holder means mounted within said vacuum chamber for carrying at least one substrate thereon; -
container means mounted within said vacuum chamber for holding a source of evaporant material with line of sight between said material and said substrate; heating means associated with said container means for heating said source of evaporant material to evaporate said material onto said substrate; plasma generating means for generating an intense plasma of a selected gas species in a separate plasma generating chamber and for communicating said plasma to said vacuum chamber to fill said vacuum chamber with a generally distributed plasma; current conducting means associated with said container means and said plasma generating means for conducting electrical current therebetween; magnet means associated with said container means for producing a magnetic field of prearranged characteristics in the region above said container means; said magnet means, said generally distributed plasma, and said evaporant material passing through said magnetic field cooperating to produce an intense second plasma in the region above said container means accompanied by high current flow in said conducting means, whereby said evaporant material is activated in passing through said second plasma region and then deposited on said substrate to produce a vacuum deposited thin film comprising said material and having improved thin film characteristics.
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Specification