Method and apparatus for feeding chips to a deposition location in a coating system

Abstract

A device for storing and feeding chips to a deposition location in a coating system comprises a holder stack comprising a plurality of holders including first and last holders, a biasing element which applies a force to the last holder, and a pushing element which, when actuated, will push the first holder from a loading position to a deposition location adjacent to a deposition opening. There is also provided a method comprising loading a plurality of holders, each containing a chip, into a holding space, so that the holders are in the form of a holder stack, a force being applied by a biasing element to the last holder in the stack; and actuating a pushing element to push a first holder from the loading position to the deposition location. The method preferably further comprises passing a deposition material through the opening and then into contact with the chip.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 565,293, filed Apr. 26, 2004, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to coating systems, in particular, to an apparatus for feeding chips to a deposition location in a coating system. The present invention also relates to an apparatus for feeding chips to a measurement device in a system in which thin layers are deposited onto substrates. The present invention further relates to a method of feeding chips to a deposition location in a coating system. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] There are a wide variety of technologies which employ articles having one or more thin layers of materials. Such thin layers can be formed in any of a variety of ways. For example, thin films for use in the field of optics as well as other applications are typically created through deposition proces...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0026] a pushing element which, when actuated, will push the first holder from the loading position along the first surface of the holding space in a direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction to a deposition location where the first holder will be adjacent to or in contact with a portion of an interior surface of a deposition opening defining element, the deposition opening defining element having an opening, the portion of the interior surface substantially circumscribing the opening, the interior surface of the deposition opening defining element being substantially coplanar with the first surface of the holding space, whereby when the pushing element pushes the first holder from the loading position to the deposition location, the first holder will slide substantially smoothly along the first surface of the holding space and the interior surface of the deposition opening defining element.

Problems solved by technology

Crystals employed in a microbalance are designed to function effectively for as long as possible, but they all fail eventually; some fail prematurely (sometimes catastrophically).

Such failure can occur because the thickness of the material deposited on the crystal just becomes so large that the crystal can no longer function as accurately as needed or desired.

Sometimes a crystal cracks or otherwise fails before such a large thickness of material is deposited.

Thin film structures have greatly increased in complexity.

The need to shut down a deposition process in order to replace a chip (e.g., a crystal) used in monitoring a deposition process (e.g., thickness of deposited coating or rate of such thickness growth) is certainly a drawback, usually a serious drawback, especially when it occurs during the course of a sequence of depositing a large number of layers.

Images