The Boc Group, Inc.

Airco, Inc.

Russell J Hill

Peter A Sieck

John L Vossen

P A Smith

Stephen C Schulz

J Kirkwood Rough

Ping Chang

Kazumi N Tsujimoto

John P Lehan

Henry A Byorum

The present invention provides for an improved electron gun evaporation source using high direct current negative voltage for forming high energy electron beams to produce thin-film coatings on a variety of substrates. The present invention further provides for the use of a grounded metallic shield which functions as an electrode enclosing both the filament leads and emitter structures of an electron beam source.

Electron beam gun with grounded shield to prevent arc-down and gas bleed to protect the filament

In a rotational rod-fed electron-beam evaporation source used with sublimating rod material, the ingot rod can be free-standing with respect to the crucible. This means that the side of the ingot rod near the tip of the rod does not contact a cooling crucible. In this way, the system can be operated in a defocused position of the electron beam, and the sweep of the electron beam can go over the edge of the ingot rod tip. Using these features, a substantially radial sweep of the tip of an ingot rod that sweeps over the edge can produce a substantially flat evaporation pattern on the ingot rod, producing a good utilization of the expensive ingot rod material.

Free-standing rotational rod-fed source

A sputtering system using an AC power supply in the range of 10 kHz to 100 kHz uses two rotatable cylindrical magnetrons. The rotatable cylindrical magnetrons, when used for depositing a dielectric layer onto a substrate, clean off dielectric material that is deposited onto the target. This prevents a dielectric layer on the target from acting like a capacitor and may help avoid arcing. Additionally, an impedance-limiting capacitor can be placed in series in the electrical path between the targets through the transformer so as to reduce arcing. This impedance-limiting capacitor has a value much larger than the capacitors used to couple the power supply to a target in radio frequency sputtering systems.

Sputtering system using cylindrical rotating magnetron electrically

A display having first and second substrates positioned in a juxtaposed relationship to one another. The first and second substrates have a spherical configuration including conforming inner concave and convex surfaces of the first and second substrates, respectfully, and an outer concave surface of the second substrates. Electrically activated display elements are formed on the conforming inner concave and convex surfaces of the first and second substrates so that images produced by the display elements can be viewed from the concave surface of the second substrate. The first and second substrates are connected to one another with a peripheral vacuum seal sealing the display elements between the first and second substrates. The concave viewing surface eliminates the effects of glare.

Concave display

A method of forming a display in which first and second substantially flat display substrates are positioned in the juxtaposed relationship with a release agent located between the first and second display substrates. The first and second substrates are then slumped into a spherical configuration. The first and second substrates are separated and cleaned and an electronically activated display elements are formed on the conforming inner concave and convex surfaces of the first and second substrates so that images produced by the display elements can be viewed from the concave surface of the second substrate. The display elements can be field emission display elements in part produced by electron beam evaporation methods in which a source to substrate distance is set by a spherical radius of the substrates. After the formation of the field emission display elements, the first and second substrates repositioned and connected to one another with a peripheral vacuum seal sealing the display elements therebetween. A region located between the first and second display substrates and within the peripheral vacuum seal is evacuated.

Display forming method

An elongated anode structure having multiple points to which electrons are attracted is provided. The anode can be constructed of multiple wire brushes that are attached to a metal rod. Use of the anode in magnetron systems significantly reduces dielectric material build-up and improves film uniformity in both dc reactive and non-reactive sputtering. Moreover, the anode reduces overheating and increases the operation time of magnetron systems undergoing reactive sputtering of dielectric materials. In one embodiment, the magnetron system has a cylindrical cathode and a pair of elongated anodes positioned parallel to and equidistance from the cathode. The anode structure is particularly suited for sputtering uniform films of dielectric materials, including silicon dioxide and silicon nitride.

Anode structure for magnetron sputtering systems

The present invention provides an electron beam gun for an electron beam evaporation source in which a beam former shields a filament from an anode such that electrons emitted from the filament are accelerated past the anode in a ribbon-like beam. The filament is connected to a split cathode block having two sides for applying an electric current through the filament. The beam former has two sections which are separately connected to the two sides of the cathode block such that the cathode block acts as a heat sink for the beam former, and a thermal gradient is not produced within the beam former that would produce warpage and movement of the beam former. Preferably, the vertical gap is about 0.254 mm. to prevent electrons emitted from the filament from arcing through the gap to the anode.

Electron beam gun for use in an electron beam evaporation source

An electron-beam apparatus for evaporating material is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a rotatable hearth on which the evaporant material can be placed and an electron-beam source which can be energized to evaporate the material. The apparatus is compact and durable because the electron beam source occupies a protected location which is closer to the rotational axis than is the hearth.

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El Cerrito, CA, United States of America

Russell J Hill