Chemistry: electrical and wave energy – Processes and products – Coating – forming or etching by sputtering
Patent
1999-06-08
2000-07-04
Diamond, Alan
Chemistry: electrical and wave energy
Processes and products
Coating, forming or etching by sputtering
20419215, 20429812, 20429815, 20429823, 20429824, 20429827, 20429828, C23C 1456, C23C 1434
Patent
active
060833599
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a process for forming a coating on a substrate by cathodic sputtering, comprising sputtering chamber, surface of a target, oriented towards this substrate surface and containing one or more elements to be deposited on the substrate, and deposited on the entirety of the surface to be coated from said target surface.
Such cathodic sputtering processes and devices have long been known (c.f. for example EP-A-0685571).
One problem encountered in currently known devices is that the substrates to be coated, for example in strip form, are of variable widths. This means that, if a substrate of a width less than the target is passed before a target of a given length in a cathodic sputtering chamber, material is lost due to sputtering beyond the edges of the substrate resulting in contamination of the chamber.
The present solution to overcome these problems is to use variable length targets which are changed depending upon the width of the substrate to be processed. This takes up considerable space, entails installation and removal time as well as storage of different targets.
According to another solution, a single target is used with masking elements which can cover at least one of the ends of the target if the substrate to be processed is of width less than the length of the target. However, these masks must be replaced or cleaned regularly and they are not a real solution to the loss of sputtered material.
The object of the present invention is to provide a relatively simple and low cost process and device by means of which the above-mentioned problems may be overcome.
To this end, the invention provides a process as described above, comprising substrates are of variable width with a predetermined maximum width, by means of a target, said surface of which is of an invariable length approximately matching said maximum width of the substrate, and, displacement between the surface of the target and the surface to be coated of the substrate, such that substantially the entirety of the surface of the target is constantly located opposite the surface to be coated during cathodic sputtering.
In this manner, maximum yield, constant for all the substrates, is obtained from a target, which is always located in its entirety opposite the surface to be coated of the substrate, while allowing cathodic sputtering over the entirety of the surface to be coated, during the passage of the substrate through the sputtering chamber.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the substrates are strips of material which proceed in a linear direction before the target and, depending upon the width of the strip, the process comprises displacement of the target between a longitudinal direction perpendicular to the direction of motion of the strip, when the width of the strip is at its maximum, and an oblique longitudinal position relative to this direction of motion, when the width of the strip is less than the maximum width. By means of simple displacement requiring little space, it is accordingly possible to adjust the target to strips of variable width which are to be processed in succession in the sputtering chamber.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, this relative displacement comprises pivoting of the target in the chamber. This pivoting may preferably proceed around a central shaft of the target or an eccentric shaft, for example arranged at one of the ends thereof. It is thus possible to provide a translational movement of the target, simultaneously with or subsequent to the pivoting movement.
Obviously, the process may be applied to any substrate, the surface of which may be coated by cathodic sputtering. The process may accordingly be used to coat, inter alia, strips or sheets of metal, glass, paper, plastics. Nevertheless, application of the process is not restricted to two-dimensional products such as strips, but may also be applied to coating the surfaces of three-dimensional objects, for example bars, rails, etc..
The sputtering process is not restricted to convention
REFERENCES:
patent: 4562093 (1985-12-01), Mario et al.
patent: 4866032 (1989-09-01), Fujimori et al.
patent: 5108571 (1992-04-01), Ludwig et al.
patent: 5228963 (1993-07-01), Rose
Patents abstracts of Japan, for JP 04-290617, published May 17, 1994.
Patents abstracts of Japan, for JP 59-074277, published Apr. 26, 1984.
Patents abstracts of Japan, for JP 03-174620, published Dec. 24, 1992.
Brande Pierre Vanden
Weymeersch Alain
Diamond Alan
Recherches Et Developpement Du Groupe Cockerill Sambre, en abreg
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