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:
Apr. 19, 1994
Filed:
Aug. 06, 1992
Joseph W Crownover, La Jolla, CA (US);
Ben B Meckel, Encinitas, CA (US);
Aubrey M Burer, El Cajon, CA (US);
BMC Technology Corporation, San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for manufacturing electrodes for capacitors having a plurality of thin metal coatings on a ceramic dielectric substrate, with the coated substrates assembled in a monolithic structure. A layer of green ceramic material is formed on a support tape. This green ceramic tape is moved in registration with a stencil web overlying the tape. The stencil web has openings corresponding to the configuration of the conductive coating to be formed on the tape. The sandwich of tape and web is moved through a sputtering chamber in which a selected metal or alloy is sputtered from a target so as to fall on the stencil web, coating the ceramic tape wherever openings are present. The sputtering chamber is arranged so that initially the ceramic tape receives a light, low energy metal coating before being exposed to maximum sputtering. This allows a reflective coating to be formed to reflect thermal energy before the intensity of the thermal radiation reaches a level that would damage an uncoated ceramic. The coated ceramic substrate tape may then be divided and assembled into multi-layer monolithic capacitors. In a related embodiment, the metallic electrodes may be sputtered onto a plastic carrier film to form a transferable layer or decalcomania, with the electrodes later transferred to the surface of the ceramic substrate.