METHODS AND DEVICES FOR COATING AN INTERIOR SURFACE OF A PLASTIC CONTAINER
Methods and devices for coating an interior surface of a container using ICPECVD are provided. In one embodiment, a method of coating an interior surface of a container comprises: depositing a barrier film on the interior surface of the container using inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition.
1 . A method of coating an interior surface of a container, comprising: depositing a barrier film on the interior surface of the container using inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising positioning a conductive coil around a body of the container and moving the conductive coil in parallel to a central axis of the container while supplying a radio frequency power to the conductive coil.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising pumping reactive gases into the container.
4 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising pumping water though an interior of the conductive coil to cool the conductive coil.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising pumping exhaust gas from the container.
6 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the reactive gases are pumped through an inlet conduit having holes in its wall for distribution of the gases.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the barrier film comprises a silicon-oxy-nitride.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the barrier film has a thickness of about 10 nanometers to about 1,000 nanometers and a water transmission rate of less than about 0.5 g/m 2 /day.
9 . A method of coating an interior surface of a container, comprising: depositing a barrier film within a deposition chamber, wherein a hollow interior portion of the container is the deposition chamber.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein said depositing is performed using inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition.
11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising pumping reactive gases into the hollow interior portion of the container.
12 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising positioning a conductive coil around a body of the container and moving the conductive coil in parallel to a central axis of the container while supplying a radio frequency power to the conductive coil.
13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the reactive gases are pumped through an inlet conduit having holes in its wall for distribution of the gases.
14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the barrier film comprises a silicon-oxy-nitride.
15 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the barrier film has a thickness of about 10 nanometers to about 1,000 nanometers and a water transmission rate of less than about 0.5 g/m 2 /day.
16 . A device for concurrently coating interior surfaces of a plurality of containers, comprising: an array of plasma sources, wherein each plasma source comprises an inlet conduit for injecting reactants into each container, an outlet conduit for pumping gas from said each container, and a conductive coil coupled to a radio frequency power supply.
17 . The device of claim 16 , wherein the device is capable of concurrently depositing a barrier film on each of the interior surfaces.
18 . The device of claim 16 , wherein the device is capable of positioning each conductive coil around a corresponding container and moving said each conductive coil in parallel to a central axis of said each container while supplying a radio frequency power to said each conductive coil.
19 . The device of claim 16 , wherein each inlet conduit comprises a plurality of holes for gas distribution.
20 . The device of claim 16 , wherein said each container comprises a hollow interior portion for acting as a deposition chamber.