The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 13, 1992
Filed:
Aug. 14, 1991
Theodore V Blomquist, Mt Airy, MD (US);
Bernard J Rod, Potomac, MD (US);
Judith T McCullen, Wheaton, MD (US);
Bohdan J Dobriansky, Bethesda, MD (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A shadow mask for sputtering is formed from a single crystal silicon wafer which is mechanically and chemically polished to produce top and bottom surfaces which are substantially flat and parallel to one another. The wafer is provided with one or more pyramidal etch pits which are arranged in a pattern. Each pit has a substantially square cross-section on the top surface, and a smaller substantially square cross-section on the bottom surface to produce an aperture in the wafer. In use, the wafer is clamped against a flat substrate with its apertures opening toward the evaporant beam. After use, the deposited species may be cleaned from the wafer using suitable etchants which render the wafer unharmed, and therefore reusable.