Deposition apparatus

Abstract

Deposition apparatus incorporating either a single or multiple filtered cathodic arc (FCA) source for depositing coatings such as tetrahedral amorphous carbon (TAC); metal oxides; compounds and alloys of such materials onto various types of substrates, such as metals semiconductors, plastics ceramics and glasses. Substrates are moved through the plasma beam(s) of the FCA source(s) and beam scanning increases deposition area. Macroparticles are filtered by a double bend filter duct.

1 . Apparatus for applying a coating of positive ions to a substrate comprising: 
 a vacuum chamber,    a filtered cathodic arc source for providing a plasma beam containing the positive ions,    a substrate to be coated, and    a substrate holder,    wherein the substrate holder is adapted to move the substrate across the beam of positive ions thereby to coat the substrate with the positive ions.    
     
     
         2 . Apparatus according to    claim 1    comprising magnetic means for scanning the plasma beam over a coating area greater that the area of the plasma beam.  
     
     
         3 . Apparatus according to    claim 2    wherein scanning of the plasma beam occurs downstream of beam filtering.  
     
     
         4 . Apparatus according to    claim 2    or    3    comprising means for scanning the plasma beam in a raster.  
     
     
         5 . Apparatus according to    claim 2   ,    3    or  4  wherein the beam is scanned to a width of at least 10 cm, preferably at least 20 cm, most preferably at least 30 cm.  
     
     
         6 . Apparatus according to any of claims  1 - 5  wherein the substrate holder is adapted for rotation of the substrate through the plasma beam.  
     
     
         7 . Apparatus according to    claim 6    wherein the substrate holder is a rotatable drum and the substrate is mounted on the inner or outer periphery of the drum.  
     
     
         8 . Apparatus according to any of claims  1 - 7  for applyingb multi-layer coatings of positive ions to a substrate, the apparatus further comprising at least a second filtered cathodic arc source providing a plasma beam containing positive ions, and a substrate holder adapted to move the substrate across the beams from the respective filtered cathodic arc sources.  
     
     
         9 . Apparatus according to any of claims  1 - 8  wherein a filtered cathodic arc source comprises a first cathode located at a cathode station, means for generating an arc at the station, a second cathode and means for interchanging the cathodes without breaking vacuum.  
     
     
         10 . Apparatus according to    claim 9    wherein the second cathode is one of a plurality of cathodes stored in a cathode magazine.  
     
     
         11 . Apparatus according to any of claims  1 - 10  comprising means for applying a DC or RF bias to the substrate.  
     
     
         12 . Apparatus according to any preceding claim comprising a filtered cathode arc source comprising a filter duct having two bends.  
     
     
         13 . Apparatus according to    claim 12    in which the filter duct has a first bend in a first plane and a second bend in a second plane that is not co-incident with the first plane.  
     
     
         14 . Apparatus according to any preceding claim comprising two filtered cathode arc sources having cathode targets of the same material and adapted for simultaneous operation.  
     
     
         15 . Apparatus according to any of claims  1 - 14  for coating positive ions onto a dielectric optical substrate.  
     
     
         16 . Apparatus for applying a coating of positive ions onto a dielectric substrate, the apparatus comprising: 
 means for generating an arc at a cathode target, the cathode target containing the ions to be deposited on the dielectric substrate,    magnetic means for directing a beam of ions emitted from the cathode along a filter path substantially to remove macroparticles therefrom,    means for holding the dielectric substrate in the filtered ion beam, and    means for applying RF bias to the optical element to dissipate electrostatic charge accruing on the element by deposition of positive ions.    
     
     
         17 . Apparatus according to    claim 16    comprising a filter duct having two bends.  
     
     
         18 . Apparatus according to    claim 17    wherein each bend is at least 20 degrees and the bends are in non-coincident planes.