US3505974A - Vacuum deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Vacuum deposition apparatus Download PDF

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Publication number
US3505974A
US3505974A US775054A US3505974DA US3505974A US 3505974 A US3505974 A US 3505974A US 775054 A US775054 A US 775054A US 3505974D A US3505974D A US 3505974DA US 3505974 A US3505974 A US 3505974A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
chamber
slot
roller
vacuum
rollers
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US775054A
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English (en)
Inventor
Dennis Walter Barker
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Edwards High Vacuum International Ltd
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Edwards High Vacuum International Ltd
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Publication date
Application filed by Edwards High Vacuum International Ltd filed Critical Edwards High Vacuum International Ltd
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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
    • C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
    • C23C14/00—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material
    • C23C14/22—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the process of coating
    • C23C14/56—Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating; Arrangements for maintaining the vacuum, e.g. vacuum locks
    • C23C14/562—Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating; Arrangements for maintaining the vacuum, e.g. vacuum locks for coating elongated substrates

Definitions

  • Said inner vacuum chamber is maintained at a lower pressure than said outer vacuum chamber and an aperture between said chambers through which the material passes maintains during use the pressure difierential between said two chambers.
  • Said material may pass from rollers in said outer chamber presenting each side to an evaporation source.
  • This invention relates to vacuum processing apparatus and has particular, although not exclusive, reference to roll coating plant.
  • roll coating is carried out in a single evacuated chamber, a sheet material to be coated unwinding from an initial roller, passing around a series of intermediate rollers during which time it passes over one or more evaporation sources, and being rewound onto a take-up roller.
  • This arrangement suffers from an important defect which makes it virtually impossible accurately to control and maintain any desired coating quality.
  • the chamber is initially evacuated practically all of the process sheet material is wound on the initial roller and large quantities of air and water vapour (that is to say, large quantities as far as a typical desired working pressure of, say, torr is concerned) are trapped between the initial roller and the material and between the turns of the material. A certain amount of outgassing-particularly water vapour-also occurs from the material itself.
  • the first chamber contains the initial roller and a number of other rollers to give the unwinding material a long path within the chamber
  • the second chamber has more intermediate rollers and the final chamber leads the material over the evaporation sources to the take-up roller.
  • the three chambers are pumped to, say 1 torr, 10- torr and 10* torr respectively and are separate units side by side, the material passing through narrow slots from one chamber to the next.
  • each separate chamber has to withstand atmospheric pressure and such a plant virtually trebles the cost of the simple plant already described.
  • Patented Apr. 14, 1970 vacuum processing apparatus including a first evacuable chamber, a second evacuable chamber housed within the first chamber and communicating means between the interiors of the two chambers for the passage of work to be processed whilst inhibiting free passage of gases or vapours.
  • Such apparatus is preferably vacuum roll coating apparatus also provided with a plurality of parallel rollers over which a flexible sheet of material may pass, one of the rollers being an initial roller situated within the second chamber whilst the other rollers are situated within the first chamber and comprise a take-up roller and a series of intermediate rollers over which the material may pass in its passage from the initial roller via the communicating means to the take-up roller, and which apparatus further includes processing means within the first but outside the second chamber.
  • the sheet material may be the material to be processed and this might be, for instance, a polyester sheet or fabric.
  • the processing means may suitably be two evaporation sources of, say, aluminum which are situated at positions below the material as it passes over the said series of rollers, opposite sides of the material being presented to the two sources.
  • the second chamber is preferably generally cylindrical and the communicating means may then be in the form of a slot through the wall of the second chamber along the length thereof.
  • the communicating means may further include a pair of milled metal plates each of which is lined with a member of material having a low coefficient of friction, the slot being formed between the said members and the metal plates being fitted into an aperture in the Wall of the second chamber along the length thereof.
  • an outer evacuable chamber 1 capable of withstanding atmospheric pressure when pumped down to process pressures in the region of l0- torr is generally cylindrical having one end closed and provided at the other end with a removable door (not shown).
  • the jig also supports an inner chamber 10 bolted to the door.
  • the roller bearings and the chamber 10 at the end remote from the door are all supported on a metal blank 11 (shown in dotted line) which is itself supported on a rail 12 running along the base of chamber 1.
  • the blank 11 also supports two evaporation sources 15 and 16 provided with evaporation cut-off shutters 17 and 18.
  • the end of chamber 10 remote from the door is itself provided with an end closure (not shown) on which are mounted rollers 13 and 14 and which is itself on a trolley (not shown) which can be run out of chamber 10.
  • an end closure (not shown) on which are mounted rollers 13 and 14 and which is itself on a trolley (not shown) which can be run out of chamber 10.
  • a slot 19 which may be lined with a material, such as polytetrafluoroethylene, having a low coefficient of friction.
  • Each chamber 1 and 10 is provided with a pumping port (not shown) which is attached to a pumping unit.
  • the chamber 1 is pumped to a process pressure, typically 10- torr, using for instance a series combination of a vapour diffusion pump, a vapour booster pump and a rotary pump.
  • Chamber 10 is also pumped to a low pressure, although in excess of that maintained in chamber 1, using for instance a vapour dilfusion pump and a 1'0- tary pump in series.
  • an evaporation material say, aluminium
  • sources and 16 With the shutters open whilst a sheet material initially wound on roller 13 passes over rollers 14, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 to be taken up on the take-up roller 9.
  • a sheet material initially wound on roller 13 passes over rollers 14, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 to be taken up on the take-up roller 9.
  • both sides of the sheet are coated, the sheet moving at a speed in the region of 600 feet per minute.
  • both chambers 1 and 10 are being continuously pumped, pumping of the inner chamber removing most of the air and water vapour which is evolved and is released during unwinding of the material.
  • the pressure difference between the two chambers will tend to cause leakage through slot 19 but this can be reduced to a minimum by keeping it as narrow as possible.
  • With a lining of PTFE the material 20 can be made to contact the lining on both sides as it passes through, the PTFE not damaging the material due to its low friction characteristics, and leakage may thus be maintained relatively low. Leakage :may further be reduced by increasing the depth of the slot.
  • the slot may be formed by milling two metal plates and, attaching them together so that there is a slot of about /2" width.
  • slot 19 This is then permanently fitted in a vacuum tight manner into the aperture out along the wall of chamber 10.
  • a pair of preformed lining parts PTFE
  • materials 20 of difierent thicknesses may be used.
  • the depth of slot 19 will only depend on the depth of the metal plates and the lining parts, and can be independent of the wall thickness of chamber 10. Thus the slot depth is really only limited by the space available.
  • a ten inch deep slot of 10 thou. width or less may be suitable for a material having a thickness of 2 thou.
  • the present invention as illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawing is not limited to such an arrangement or construction. Many alternatives might be considered. If there is sufiicient space, there is -not any reason why there should not be a further chamber surrounding the inner chamber, the further chamber being separately pumped. Again the material 20 might merely form a carrier on which small workpieces are mounted. In this case, as long as two workpieces are at least partially within the slot 19 at any one time, the sealing problem between the two chambers could be solved.
  • Vacuum deposition apparatus for coating a moving substrate and comprising:
  • a second vacuum chamber housed Within said first chamber and communicating therewith through sealing means defined by a pair of blade elements incorporated in the wall structure of said second cham- 4 ber and operatively associated with said substrate passing therebetween;
  • said second chamber housing a supply of said substrate to be coated
  • vacuum deposition means located in said first chamber
  • roller means to guide said moving substrate past said deposition means in a position 'whereby said substrate is coated
  • Windup means disposed in said first chamber whereby to store the coated substrate.
  • vacuum deposition means include first and second evaporation sources and said roller guide means are located so that each substrate surface is coated by a respective one of said sources.
  • said communicating means further includes a pair of complementary milled metal plates each of which said plates is lined with a member of material having a low coefiicient of friction, said wall of said second chamber having an aperture along the length thereof and said pair of plates fitting into said aperture defining said slot between said low coeflicient of friction lining members.
  • said first chamber is generally cylindrical having a first closed end and a second end closed by a door, said door being removable axially away from said first chamber and carrying said second chamber and said roller means.

Landscapes

  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Physical Vapour Deposition (AREA)
  • Treatment Of Fiber Materials (AREA)
US775054A 1967-11-14 1968-11-12 Vacuum deposition apparatus Expired - Lifetime US3505974A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB51692/67A GB1173978A (en) 1967-11-14 1967-11-14 Vacuum Deposition Apparatus

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3505974A true US3505974A (en) 1970-04-14

Family

ID=10461014

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US775054A Expired - Lifetime US3505974A (en) 1967-11-14 1968-11-12 Vacuum deposition apparatus

Country Status (5)

Country Link
US (1) US3505974A (de)
DE (1) DE1808898A1 (de)
FR (1) FR1591813A (de)
GB (1) GB1173978A (de)
NL (1) NL6816163A (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5002010A (en) * 1989-10-18 1991-03-26 Varian Associates, Inc. Vacuum vessel
US20080095938A1 (en) * 2006-10-13 2008-04-24 Basol Bulent M Reel-to-reel reaction of precursor film to form solar cell absorber
WO2010120355A1 (en) * 2009-04-14 2010-10-21 Xunlight Corporation Sealed magnetic roller for vacuum coating applications

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3726113A1 (de) * 1987-08-06 1989-02-16 Leybold Ag Vorrichtung zum beschichten von baendern
DE3817513C2 (de) * 1988-05-24 1996-01-25 Leybold Ag Vorrichtung zum Verdampfen von Metallen

Citations (13)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1551850A (en) * 1924-08-29 1925-09-01 Georg E Schmidmer Device for metallizing textile fabrics and the like by means of disintegration of cathodes
US1819109A (en) * 1927-10-04 1931-08-18 Warren S D Co Apparatus for treating flexible materials
US2384500A (en) * 1942-07-08 1945-09-11 Crown Cork & Seal Co Apparatus and method of coating
US2622041A (en) * 1948-08-03 1952-12-16 Nat Res Corp Deposition of metal on a nonmetallic support
US2657457A (en) * 1949-09-10 1953-11-03 Ohio Commw Eng Co Continuous metal production and continuous gas plating
FR1051247A (fr) * 1950-09-06 1954-01-14 Pollopas Patents Ltd Perfectionnements apportés aux procédés et dispositifs pour revêtir un support en une matière non-magnétique d'une couche métallique magnétisable
US2768098A (en) * 1950-09-12 1956-10-23 Siemens Ag Method and apparatus for precipitating metal from the vaporous state onto plates, particularly for the production of selenium coated rectifier plates
US2971862A (en) * 1957-04-26 1961-02-14 Nat Res Corp Vapor deposition method and apparatus
US3043728A (en) * 1958-03-17 1962-07-10 Nat Res Corp Apparatus and process for metallic vapor coating
GB926069A (en) * 1960-04-15 1963-05-15 Western Electric Co Apparatus for metallizing synthetic plastic material
US3158507A (en) * 1960-01-11 1964-11-24 Continental Can Co Floating roller seal
US3220378A (en) * 1962-06-15 1965-11-30 Norman A Lefevre Means to monitor operation of a coating and drying apparatus
US3397672A (en) * 1965-11-10 1968-08-20 United States Steel Corp Control system for vapor-deposition coating apparatus

Patent Citations (13)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1551850A (en) * 1924-08-29 1925-09-01 Georg E Schmidmer Device for metallizing textile fabrics and the like by means of disintegration of cathodes
US1819109A (en) * 1927-10-04 1931-08-18 Warren S D Co Apparatus for treating flexible materials
US2384500A (en) * 1942-07-08 1945-09-11 Crown Cork & Seal Co Apparatus and method of coating
US2622041A (en) * 1948-08-03 1952-12-16 Nat Res Corp Deposition of metal on a nonmetallic support
US2657457A (en) * 1949-09-10 1953-11-03 Ohio Commw Eng Co Continuous metal production and continuous gas plating
FR1051247A (fr) * 1950-09-06 1954-01-14 Pollopas Patents Ltd Perfectionnements apportés aux procédés et dispositifs pour revêtir un support en une matière non-magnétique d'une couche métallique magnétisable
US2768098A (en) * 1950-09-12 1956-10-23 Siemens Ag Method and apparatus for precipitating metal from the vaporous state onto plates, particularly for the production of selenium coated rectifier plates
US2971862A (en) * 1957-04-26 1961-02-14 Nat Res Corp Vapor deposition method and apparatus
US3043728A (en) * 1958-03-17 1962-07-10 Nat Res Corp Apparatus and process for metallic vapor coating
US3158507A (en) * 1960-01-11 1964-11-24 Continental Can Co Floating roller seal
GB926069A (en) * 1960-04-15 1963-05-15 Western Electric Co Apparatus for metallizing synthetic plastic material
US3220378A (en) * 1962-06-15 1965-11-30 Norman A Lefevre Means to monitor operation of a coating and drying apparatus
US3397672A (en) * 1965-11-10 1968-08-20 United States Steel Corp Control system for vapor-deposition coating apparatus

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5002010A (en) * 1989-10-18 1991-03-26 Varian Associates, Inc. Vacuum vessel
WO1991005887A1 (en) * 1989-10-18 1991-05-02 Varian Associates, Inc. Vacuum vessel
US20080095938A1 (en) * 2006-10-13 2008-04-24 Basol Bulent M Reel-to-reel reaction of precursor film to form solar cell absorber
US9103033B2 (en) * 2006-10-13 2015-08-11 Solopower Systems, Inc. Reel-to-reel reaction of precursor film to form solar cell absorber
WO2010120355A1 (en) * 2009-04-14 2010-10-21 Xunlight Corporation Sealed magnetic roller for vacuum coating applications

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE1808898A1 (de) 1969-07-17
NL6816163A (de) 1969-05-19
FR1591813A (de) 1970-05-04
GB1173978A (en) 1969-12-10

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