Ion Gun Protective Enclosure for Vacuum Evaporation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing technologies for vacuum evaporation-based ophthalmic lens surface treatment face significant maintenance challenges due to soil formation on the treating chamber walls and ion gun, leading to frequent cleaning requirements and prolonged downtime.
Innovation Solution
A protective enclosure for the ion gun with a truncated tube shape and inclined upper end is designed to surround the ion gun, acting as a mask to reduce soil formation on the treating chamber walls and ion gun by confining pollutants within the enclosure, allowing for extended evaporation cycles between cleanings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If material evaporation is performed through vacuum evaporation, then material deposition onto substrates is achieved, but soil formation occurs on the treating chamber walls and ion gun
Solution Approach 1:
A protective enclosure acts as an intermediary component between the ion gun and the treating chamber walls. This enclosure captures and confines the soil-generating evaporation process within its interior space, preventing soil particles from depositing on the chamber walls and ion gun while still allowing the ion beam to pass through to treat the substrates.
2Reliability
If frequent cleaning operations are performed to remove soil, then the treating chamber and ion gun are maintained, but maintenance time and downtime increase
Solution Approach 1:
The protective enclosure is installed in advance to prevent soil formation on critical components. By confining the soil-generating evaporation process within the enclosure before soil can deposit on the chamber walls and ion gun, the need for frequent cleaning operations is eliminated, thereby reducing maintenance time and downtime.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the evaporation cone angle is controlled to reduce soil deposition, then material beam direction is improved, but deposition quality may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The treating chamber space is segmented into a protected zone (chamber walls and ion gun) and an evaporation zone (inside the protective enclosure). This spatial segmentation allows the evaporation cone to maintain its natural angle and deposition characteristics within the enclosure while preventing soil from reaching the protected zone, thus maintaining deposition quality without compromising cleanliness.
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 solution significantly reduces maintenance time by enabling up to 96 evaporation cycles between cleanings, compared to 32 cycles without the enclosure, and allows for background cleaning operations, minimizing downtime and maintenance costs.
Implementation Method 1
a material source 15a (typically metal oxides and/or silica) that can evaporate through electron bombardment 15c
Implementation Method 2
The evaporation of the material is most of the time due to an electron bombardment generated by the electron gun 15b
Implementation Method 3
an ion gun 2 comprising an outlet 13 that is able to generate an ion beam 14 directed towards the substrate holder 12
Implementation Method 4
a material source 16 that can evaporate by the Joule effect (typically hydrophobic materials)
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a protective enclosure for an ion gun and to a device for depositing materials through vacuum evaporation comprising such an enclosure and methods of using each. According to the invention, the protective enclosure comprises a side wall intended to surround said ion gun, and an open upper end, said protective enclosure having a longitudinal axis, a truncated tube shape on its open upper end resulting from an inclined surface relative to said longitudinal axis, and having a lower part and an upper part.