Methods of making devices

Abstract

The method of making devices is disclosed herein. More particularly, a method of manufacturing a device, comprises: vacuum depositing a device-forming metal onto an unpatterned, exterior surface of a generally cylindrical substrate to form a generally tubular, unpatterned crystalline metal film under at least one vacuum deposition process condition selected from at least one of chamber pressure, deposition pressure, and partial pressure of a process gas, said at least one process condition optimized to substantially eliminate formation of chemical and intra- and intergranular precipitates in the bulk material; and removing the deposited generally tubular, unpatterned crystalline metal film from the generally cylindrical substrate.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of manufacturing a device, comprising:
 a. vacuum depositing a device-forming metal onto an unpatterned, exterior surface of a generally cylindrical substrate to form a generally tubular, unpatterned crystalline metal film under at least one vacuum deposition process condition selected from at least one of chamber pressure, deposition pressure, and partial pressure of a process gas, said at least one process condition optimized to substantially eliminate formation of chemical and intra- and intergranular precipitates in the bulk material; and   b. removing the deposited generally tubular, unpatterned crystalline metal film from the generally cylindrical substrate.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising a step of depositing a sacrificial material layer onto the substrate prior to step (a) and removing the sacrificial material layer in order to remove the deposited generally tubular, unpatterned crystalline metal film from the substrate in step (b), and wherein the process condition controlled is a deposition rate and the deposition rate is no less than about 20 nm/sec. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein step (a) is conducted by ion beam-assisted evaporative deposition. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein step (a) is conducted by sputtering. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the ion beam-assisted evaporative deposition is conducted in the presence of an inert gas. 
     
     
         6 . A method of manufacturing a metal, comprising:
 a. vacuum depositing a metal onto an unpatterned, exterior surface of a generally cylindrical substrate to form a generally tubular, unpatterned crystalline metal film under at least one vacuum deposition process condition selected from at least one of chamber pressure, deposition pressure, and partial pressure of a process gas, said at least one process condition optimized to minimize formation of chemical and intra- and intergranular precipitates in the bulk material;   b. defining the plurality of first and second structural elements in the unpatterned metal film; and   c. removing the first and second structural elements from the generally cylindrical substrate.   
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising a step of depositing a sacrificial material layer onto the substrate prior to step (a) and removing the sacrificial material layer in order to remove the first and second structural elements from the substrate in step (c). 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein step (a) is conducted by ion beam-assisted evaporative deposition. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein step (a) is conducted by sputtering. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein the ion beam-assisted evaporative deposition is conducted in the presence of an inert gas. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the inert gas is selected from the group consisting of argon, xenon, nitrogen and neon. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the process condition controlled is a deposition rate and the deposition rate is no less than about 20 nm/sec. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein during the deposition of the metal, the substrate is rotated. 
     
     
         14 . A method of manufacturing a device, comprising:
 a. vacuum depositing nickel and titanium onto an exterior surface of a generally cylindrical substrate to form a deposited generally tubular, crystalline nickel-titanium shape memory film having no less than about 51.5 atomic percent nickel, the vacuum deposition occurring under at least one vacuum deposition process condition selected from at least one of chamber pressure, deposition pressure, and partial pressure of a process gas, said at least one process condition optimized to minimize formation of inter- and intra-granular precipitates in the bulk material of the nickel-titanium crystalline film; and   b. removing the deposited generally tubular, crystalline nickel-titanium shape memory film from the generally cylindrical substrate.   
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein the deposited generally tubular film of nickel-titanium has a composition of between about 51.5 and about 55.0 atomic percent nickel. 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein during the deposition of the nickel and titanium, the substrate is rotated, and wherein the process condition controlled is a deposition rate and the deposition rate is no less than about 20 nm/sec. 
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein a source of the nickel and the titanium to be deposited is a nickel-titanium alloy. 
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein a source of the nickel and the titanium to be deposited is a binary nickel-titanium alloy. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 14 , further comprising, prior to step (a), a step of imparting a pattern defining the first and second structural elements onto the exterior surface of the substrate, and wherein the pattern is transferred to the tubular film of nickel-titanium during step (a). 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 14 , further comprising a step of imparting a pattern defining the first and second structural elements onto the tubular film of nickel-titanium after step (a).