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:
Jul. 28, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 19, 1995
Hiroyuki Sugimura, Tsukuba, JP;
Tatsuya Uchida, Miyagi, JP;
Nikon Corporation by Hiroyuki Sugimura, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The present invention provides a method for producing an oxide film wherein a sharp-pointed processing electrode is positioned close to the material to be processed in an oxygen-containing gas, and a voltage in the single digit range is impressed across the material and the electrode so that the surface of the material is positive and the electrode is negative thereby causing an electric current to flow across the material and the electrode. The surface of the material reacts electrochemically with oxygen adsorbed on the surface of the material to anodize the surface immediately proximate the electrode. The method makes possible the formation of a patterned oxide film with a resolution of 0.1 .mu.m or less, thus surpassing the limit of conventional oxide film production methods. Processing efficiency and freedom of processing are significantly improved because an arbitrary oxide film pattern can be formed directly on the surface of a material thereby eliminating the use of a large number of complicated production processes.