Apparatus for large area chemical vapor deposition using multiple expanding thermal plasma generators
First Claim
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1. A substrate coating apparatus comprising:
- a deposition chamber adapted to be maintained at subatmospheric pressure;
support means in said deposition chamber for a substrate, said substrate having at least one surface; and
a set of expanding thermal plasma generating means associated with said deposition chamber, said generating means being adapted to deposit a coating on said substrate, said set comprising at least two of said means, each of said means producing a plasma plume having a central axis, wherein said central axes of said plasma plumes produced by all of said means in said set are oriented parallel to each other.
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Abstract
Chemical vapor deposition is performed using a plurality of expanding thermal plasma generating means to produce a coating on a substrate, such as a thermoplastic and especially a polycarbonate substrate. The substrate is preferably moved past the generating means. Included are methods which coat both sides of the substrate or which employ multiple sets of generating means, either in a single deposition chamber or in a plurality of chambers for deposition of successive coatings. The substrate surfaces spaced from the axes of the generating means are preferably heated to promote coating uniformity.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A substrate coating apparatus comprising:
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a deposition chamber adapted to be maintained at subatmospheric pressure;
support means in said deposition chamber for a substrate, said substrate having at least one surface; and
a set of expanding thermal plasma generating means associated with said deposition chamber, said generating means being adapted to deposit a coating on said substrate, said set comprising at least two of said means, each of said means producing a plasma plume having a central axis, wherein said central axes of said plasma plumes produced by all of said means in said set are oriented parallel to each other. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A substrate coating apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of deposition chambers, each of said chambers adapted to be maintained at subatmospheric pressure;
support means adapted to convey a substrate through said deposition chambers in succession;
a movement actuator adapted to move said substrate support means and substrate through said deposition chambers in succession;
a plurality of sets of expanding thermal plasma generating means associated with said deposition chambers, said generating means being adapted to deposit a coating on said substrate, each of said sets comprising at least two of said means, each of said means producing a plasma plume having a central axis, wherein said central axes of said plasma plumes produced by all of said means in each of said sets are oriented parallel to each other;
said generating means in each set being oriented in a straight line or a zigzag configuration, said line or configuration being parallel to the plane of motion of the substrate support means, and said generating means being located such that anodes thereof are at a distance of about 20-40 cm from the substrate and spaced so that their center axes are about 10-21 cm apart; and
heating means located and adapted to heat substrate regions spaced from the center axes of said generating means. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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Specification