High-Throughput Combinatorial Dip-Coating Apparatus and Methodologies

Abstract

Embodiments of the current invention describe a high performance combinatorial method and apparatus for the combinatorial development of coatings by a dip-coating process. The dip-coating process may be used for multiple applications, including forming coatings from varied sol-gel formulations, coating substrates uniformly with particles to combinatorially test particle removal formulations, and the dipping of substrates into texturing formulations to combinatorially develop the texturing formulations.

1 . A method for testing coating formulations comprising:
 providing a plurality of coating formulations;   simultaneously dip coating a plurality of test substrates in the plurality of coating formulations to generate a plurality of coated substrates;   generating a variation between at least two of the plurality of coated substrates;   characterizing the plurality of coated substrates to obtain characterizing results; and   selecting a subset of the plurality of coating formulations based on the characterizing of the plurality of coated substrates.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein simultaneously dip coating the plurality of test substrates occurs within a housing. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein simultaneously dip coating of the plurality of test substrates is performed with a dip coating assembly, wherein each of the plurality of test substrates is detachably secured to the dip coating assembly. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising coating a second plurality of test substrates with the selected subset of the plurality of coating formulations, wherein the coating is performed using spin coating, spray coating, or curtain coating. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the generating of the variation between at least two of the plurality of coated substrates comprises varying the chemical compositions of the plurality of coating formulations. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the dip coating of the plurality of test substrates in the plurality of coating formulations comprises:
 submersing at least a portion of each of the plurality of test substrates in one of the plurality of coating formulations with the dip coating assembly; and   drawing each of the plurality of test substrates from the one of the plurality of coating formulations with the dip coating assembly.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the generating of the variation between at least two of the plurality of coated substrates comprises varying a speed at which the plurality of test substrates are drawn from the plurality of coating formulations. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the generating of the variation between at least two of the plurality of coated substrates comprises varying a temperature of the plurality of coating formulations, a temperature of the plurality of coated substrates, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         9 . A method for testing sol-gel coating formulations comprising:
 performing a first screening to identify a subset of sol-gel coating formulations having predetermined characteristics, the first screening comprising:
 providing a plurality of sol-gel coating formulations within a housing of a coating formulation apparatus; 
 simultaneously dip coating a plurality of test substrates in the plurality of sol-gel coating formulations to generate a plurality of coated substrates; 
 generating a variation between at least two of the plurality of coated substrates; and 
   selecting a subset of the plurality of sol-gel coating formulations based on characterization results; and   performing a second screening by coating a second plurality of test substrates with the selected subset of the plurality of sol-gel coating formulations, wherein the coating is performed using spin coating.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of test substrates is detachably secured to the dip coating assembly. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of sol-gel coating formulations comprises a monomer, a solvent, a surfactant, a viscosity modifier, a cross-linking agent, an accelerator, a catalyst, a porogen, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the sol-gel coating formulations are anti-reflective coating formulations. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising selecting a second subset of sol-gel coating formulations based on characterization results of the second screening. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising performing a third screening by coating a plurality of manufacturing-scale substrates with the second selected subset of the plurality of sol-gel coating formulations. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising annealing the sol-gel formulations after the first screening and wherein a further variation is introduced during annealing. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the further variation introduced during annealing comprises varying an annealing temperature from one substrate to another. 
     
     
         17 . An apparatus for testing coating formulations comprising:
 a housing enclosing a testing chamber;   a plurality of vessels coupled to the housing and positioned within the testing chamber, each of the plurality of vessels being configured to hold one of a plurality of coating formulations;   a dip coating assembly coupled to the housing and configured to:
 hold a plurality of test substrates; 
 simultaneously dip each of the test substrates into one of the plurality of coating formulations; and 
 draw the test substrates from the plurality of coating formulations to form a plurality of coated substrates; and 
   a variation generating system coupled to the housing and configured to generate a variation between at least two of the coated substrates.   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , further comprising a dispensing assembly coupled to the housing and configured to dispense the plurality of coating formulations into the plurality of vessels, and wherein the variation generating system is configured to vary the chemical compositions of the plurality of coating formulations. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the dip coating assembly comprises a plurality of independently controllable arms, each of the plurality of independently controllable arms being configured to hold at least one of the plurality of test substrates, and wherein the variation generating system is configured to vary the speed at which the plurality of test substrates are drawn from the plurality of coating formulations. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the variation generating system comprises a temperature control sub-system configured to independently control a temperature of each of the plurality of coating formulations, a temperature of each of the plurality of coated substrates, or a combination thereof.