Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Composite – Of inorganic material
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-30
2001-09-18
Jones, Deborah (Department: 1775)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Composite
Of inorganic material
C428S332000, C428S446000, C428S450000, C252S06230R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06291088
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
The present invention relates to the field of overcoat materials, and more specifically relates to overcoat materials functioning as relaxation coatings applied to electrode grids.
There are known or proposed systems for electrostatically moving or assisting with the movement of fine particulate materials, such as marking material (e.g., toner) and the like. One such system is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/163,839.
According to the teachings of the aforementioned application Ser. No. 09/163,839, a grid of small and closely spaced electrodes are connected to a driver circuit such that a phased d.c. travelling electrostatic wave is established along the grid. Charged particulate material is transported by the electrostatic wave in a desired direction, at a desired velocity.
In such a system, it is desirable to provide a planarized surface over which the particulate material may travel. Such a surface eliminates the problem of particulate material becoming trapped between the electrodes. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a material over the electrodes to provide rapid charge dissipation at a selected time constant. Arcing between electrodes must be prevented. Wear resistance is also a desired attribute of such a layer. Finally, it is important that such a layer be chemically stable. That is, the layer material must not react with the particulate material nor change characteristics in the presence of the operating environment. However, no known material to date has been able to optimize each of these desired attributes.
It is known to encapsulate electronic devices, such as integrated circuits, in protective coatings. Such coatings may provide physical protection from scratches, and a moisture barrier between the devices and the ambient environment. However, such materials are generally not used as top-surface dielectrics. Furthermore, such insulation and passivation layers typically have very high resistivities to avoid possible electrical shorts between covered leads.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a coating which provides a planarized surface, has a selected time constant, is wear resistant, and is chemically stable.
SUMMARY
The present invention is a novel coating for application over an electrode grid particle mover. The coating is an inorganic material which may be compatible with silicon processing, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and may be incorporated into the production of silicon-based components such as an electrode grid.
The coating is a top-surface (that is, not sandwiched between layers) semiconducting dielectric, having a selected time constant to permit electric field charge and dissipation at a selected rate to permit particulate material movement over an underlying electrode grid.
According to one embodiment, the coating is a material selected from the group comprising: a nitride, an oxide, and an oxy-nitride of silicon, and amorphous silicon. The coating may be formed by CVD, plasma assisted CVD (PACVD), or other known processing techniques.
The time constant of the coating, as determined by the product of the dielectric constant and the resistivity of the material, is preferably between 0.5-100 microseconds (ms). Within this range of time constant, particulate material may be moved from electrode to electrode, across a grid of electrodes, at a speed about 1 to 2 meters per second (m/s). However, the larger the time constant, the slower the speed of movement of the particulate material across the electrode grid. The bulk resistivity of the coating is preferably between 1×10
9
and 1×10
12
ohm·centimeters (&OHgr;·cm).
Thus, the present invention and its various embodiments provide numerous advantages discussed above, as well as additional advantages which will be described in further detail below.
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Vo Tuan Anh
Wong Kaiser H.
Jones Deborah
Stein Stephen
Xerox Corporation
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