Balzers Aktiengesellschaft

Balzers Patent Und Beteiligungs Ag

Tokyo Electron Limited

Balzers Aktiengesellschaft Fur Hochvakuumtechnik Und Dunne Schichten

Marcel A Lardon

Eberhard Moll

Hans Pulker

Rainer Buhl

Thaddaus Kraus

Hans-Peter Bader

Rolf Zessack

Edgar Muller

Paul-Rene Muralt

A process and apparatus for setting a working rate distribution along a work surface which is being AC plasma-enhanced reactively coated, or reactively or non-reactively etched in an AC plasma, and in which process a plasma volume of given volume is utilized, comprises placing the work surface in the plasma volume, positioning a setting surface of a distribution setting body opposite the work surface, the setting body being surrounded by the plasma volume substantially on all sides of the setting body, and setting the working rate distribution by selecting either the material of the setting surface, the quality of the setting surface, a distance relationship between the setting surface and the work surface, or the shape of the setting surface.

Process for setting a working rate distribution in an etching or plasma

A process for coating substrates which has microcavities comprises coating the substrate surface under a vacuum with a predetermined substance to form a layer of the substance deposited on the surface and in the cavity. Directing subsequent layers onto the substrate with an ion bombardment so as to cause the molecular beams of the coating substance to strike the cavities at divergence angles of not greater than 10.degree..

Process and apparatus for coating microcavities

To manufacture tubes having a wear-resistant inside coating, such as gun barrels, hard material layers are deposited on the barrel and the layers are strain-hardened in their surface area by at least the ratio of the area by which the surface area is reduced by compression divided by the surface area of 0.001 (.DELTA.F/F=1.10.sup.-3) or reducing the area of the layer by 0.1%.

Tube having strain-hardened inside coating

With elastic, particularly rubber-elastic bodies, the problem arises that an applied coating becomes fissured upon later deformation and may easily be abraded. According to the invention, the surface to be coated, for example, an elastic implant, is held in a stretched state during the deposition of the layer, such as a metal. Then, in a state of normal use, the produced layer forms a kind of shrunken skin which remains continuous even if the body is later deformed.

Method of coating the surface of an elastic body with a continuous layer

The present invention relates to a device for measuring the reflection of a plane, specularly reflecting surface, in which a measuring beam of radiation is directed onto the surface to be measured through an optical converging lens and the radiation reflected from the surface is directed through the same lens to a radiation receiver. In such a system, preferably, the optical connections between the source of radiation and the converging lens and between the lens and the radiation receiver are established by means of a fiber-optical photoconductor or a lens and mirror systems. Such a device may be employed, for example, for measuring the reflection of thin layers deposited in a vacuum evaporator.

Device for measuring the reflection of a plane, specularly reflecting

An apparatus for determining the rate of flow of particles in a vacuum deposition device using the relationship that the rate of flow of the particles is equal to the density of the particle current times the mean velocity of the particles comprises establishing a flow or current of particles in the device and the directing of a laser beam through the current of particles in order to measure the attenuation of the beam after it has passed through the particles and thus to determine the vapor density within the current. The absorption wavelength shift of the laser beam provides an indication of the velocity component of the current because the shift is produced by a Doppler effect by the velocity component of the particle current in the direction of flow from the source of the particles to the substrate to be coated. In a preferred form the vacuum deposition device comprises a housing which has a vacuum chamber in which the substrate to be coated is held in a position across the chamber from a source of the coating material which is evaporated or sputtered so that a current of particles moves from the source to the substrate across the chamber. At least one laser beam is directed through the particles and is picked up on the opposite side by a detector which is capable of measuring the absorption wavelength shift. Two laser beams may be directed through the particle stream including one transverse to the current direction and one parallel to the current direction. The second beam may be effected by using a semi-transparent mirror to deflect the original laser beam so that it is passed again through the chamber in a direction at substantially right angles to the first beam direction.

Apparatus for determining the rate of flow of particles in a vacuum

A method of determining the rate of flow of particles in a vacuum deposition device, using the relationship that the rate of flow of the particles is equal to the density of the particle current times the mean velocity of the particles, comprises establishing a flow or current of particles in the device and directing a laser beam through the current of particles in order to measure the atteunation of the beam after it has passed through the particles and thus to determine the vapor density within the current. The absorption wavelength shift of the laser beam provides an indication of the velocity component of the current because the shift is produced by a Doppler effect by the velocity component of the particle current in the direction of flow from the source of the particles to the substrate to be coated. In a preferred embodiment of the method, a housing has a vacuum chamber in which the substrate to be coated is held in a position across the chamber from a source of the coating material which is evaporated or sputtered so that a current of particles moves from the source across the chamber to the substrate. At least one laser beam is directed through the particles and is picked up on the opposite side by a detector which is capable of measuring the absorption wavelength shift. Two laser beams may be directed through the particle stream, including one transverse to the current direction and one parallel to the current direction. The second beam may be provided by using a semi-transparent mirror to deflect the original laser beam so that it is passed through the chamber again in a direction at substantially right angles to the first beam direction.

Method and apparatus for determining the rate of flow of particles in a

The concentration ratio of two components of a mixture of substances, having absorption bands which are adjacent each other in a manner such that the radiation absorption of the mixture of substances has a minimum between these absorption bands, is determined by measuring, in three adjacent, narrow spectral regions, of the radiation transmitted by the mixture of substances, a variable which is proportional to the ratio .DELTA..sup.1 I / .DELTA..sup.2 I wherein the numerator .DELTA..sup.1 I = (I.sub.3 - I.sub.1) is the difference between the intensities of radiation of the two outer spectral regions, and the denominator .DELTA..sup.2 I = (I.sub.3 - I.sub.2) -(I.sub.2 - I.sub.1) is the value by which the respective differences between the intensities of radiation of each outer spectral region and the middle spectral region differ from each other. The position, in the spectrum, of the three adjacent regions is adjusted so that they are located between the absorption maxima of the two components and where the numerator .DELTA..sup.1 I becomes zero at a definite concentration ratio which is preferably the ratio at which the highest accuracy of measurement is desired. Alternatively, the variable is proportional to the ratio I'/I', which is the ratio of the first derivative I' to the second derivative I' of the distribution of spectral intensity.

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Maienfeld, Switzerland

Marcel A Lardon