Cylindrical Cathode Magnet Layout for Stable Sputtering Plasma
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sputtering technologies face challenges in effectively coating transparent panels for mobile devices with materials that enhance scratch and scuff resistance while maintaining optical clarity, as they often result in unstable plasma and film quality issues.
Innovation Solution
A cylindrical cathode design with a specific magnet arrangement and gas injection system is employed, allowing for enhanced plasma confinement and controlled sputtering of materials like SiAlON, using a keeper plate and obround-shaped magnets to maintain stable plasma between targets, and a centralized anode to manage electron flux.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional sputtering technology is used to coat transparent panels, then scratch and scuff resistance can be enhanced, but plasma stability and film quality deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a cylindrical cathode target geometry instead of conventional flat or planar targets. This curved surface enables more uniform plasma distribution and magnetic field confinement across the target surface, improving plasma stability while maintaining the sputtering process effectiveness for depositing scratch-resistant coatings
Solution Approach 2:
The magnet arrangement is divided into multiple discrete magnet blocks positioned at specific locations around the cylindrical target. This segmentation allows independent optimization of magnetic field zones to control plasma confinement and electron flux distribution, achieving stable plasma conditions for high-quality film deposition
2Strength
If conventional sputtering technology is used to coat transparent panels, then scratch and scuff resistance can be enhanced, but film quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The cylindrical cathode geometry provides uniform plasma and flux distribution across the target surface, ensuring consistent coating properties throughout the film. This curvature enables better control over deposition uniformity, resulting in high-quality films with maintained optical clarity and enhanced mechanical properties
Solution Approach 2:
The magnet blocks are strategically positioned to create localized magnetic field zones that control plasma and electron flux distribution in specific regions of the target. This allows optimization of coating properties in different areas of the substrate, ensuring uniform film quality across the entire coated surface
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design achieves stable plasma confinement and improved film quality, ensuring high transmission, low reflectivity, and enhanced scratch resistance in transparent panels without compromising optical properties.
Implementation Method 1
a magnet arrangement provided inside the cylindrical target, the magnet arrangement comprising a first set of magnets arranged on a single straight row, each magnet of the first set having a first pole facing interior wall of the cylindrical target and a second pole facing away from the interior wall
Implementation Method 2
a cylindrical target having sputtering material on exterior surface thereof
Implementation Method 3
Such coatings can be formed using a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process, otherwise known as sputtering
Data Source
AI summary
Sputtering system having cylindrical target with sputtering material on exterior surface; magnet arrangement inside the cylindrical target, having first set of magnets arranged on straight row, each having first pole facing interior wall of the target and second pole facing away from the interior wall, second set having plurality of magnets arranged in obround shape around the first set, each magnet having first pole facing away from the interior wall and second pole facing the interior wall; a keeper plate between the first set of magnets and the second set of magnets, such that straight line passing through an axis connecting the first pole and the second pole of a magnet from the second set intercepts the keeper plate prior to reaching the interior wall; and a cover.