Other

Diamond Black Technologies, Inc.

Pld Advanced Automation Systems, Inc.

Kenneth Henry Frederick

Vincent J Kovarik, Jr

Ady I Hershcovitch

Merrill Gene Robinson

Philip Anthony Napolitano

Daniel Garnett Wegerif

Ronald Lee Remus

Angelo Venzon

Arthur Bruce DeWald, Jr

A system and method are provided for vacuum coating articles that includes a means for moving the articles in semi-continuous fashion successively through a series of vacuum chambers. A carousel is transported successively through each of the vacuum chambers that rotates the articles in an epicycloidal fashion. A means is also provided for precisely and reproducibly loading and unloading the carousel with the article.

System and method for vacuum coating of articles having precise and

A method and apparatus are provided for sputtering particles from a target as a film on a substrate. The target and substrate are maintained in a main housing in a first vacuum. The target is biased with a first negative voltage to effect a target bias. A plasma is produced in a cathode box spaced from the target, with the plasma being injected between the target and substrate to effect sputtering by bombarding the target with positive ions and liberating target particles for condensing on the substrate to form the film. The cathode box includes a cathode biased at a second negative voltage to effect a cathode bias, and a sputtering gas is supplied adjacent to the cathode for producing the plasma. Plasma production in the cathode box is decoupled from sputtering at the target for increasing sputtering yield and rate. And, the target may be contoured for focussing the sputtered particles on the substrate.

Sputtering method and apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Rockledge, FL, United States of America

Kenneth Henry Frederick