ALD COATING SYSTEM
An ALD coating system ( 100 ) includes a fixed gas manifold ( 710, 1300 ) disposed over a moving substrate with a coating surface of the substrate facing precursor orifice plate ( 930 ). A gas control system ( 1400 ) delivers gas or vapor precursors and inert gas into the fixed gas manifold which directs input gases onto a coating surface of the moving substrate. The gas control system includes a blower ( 1485 ) interfaced with the gas manifold which draws gas through the gas manifold to remove unused precursors, inert gas and reaction byproduct from the coating surface. The gas manifold is configured segregate precursor gases at the coating surface to prevent the mixing of dissimilar precursors. The gas manifold may also segregate unused precursor gases in the exhaust system so that the unused precursors can be recovered and reused.
1 . A method of depositing a layer on a coating surface of a substrate comprising:
providing a deposition head including a unit cell having a first precursor nozzle assembly and a second precursor nozzle assembly;
emitting a first precursor from the first precursor nozzle assembly into atmospheric conditions in a direction substantially normal to the coating surface;
emitting a second precursor from the second precursor nozzle assembly into atmospheric conditions in a direction substantially normal to the coating surface;
relatively moving the deposition head and the substrate such that the first precursor is directed onto a first area of the coating surface prior to the second precursor being directed onto the first area of the coating surface.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the unit cell has an inert gas nozzle assembly arranged between the first precursor nozzle assembly and the second precursor nozzle assembly and the method further comprises emitting inert gas from the inert gas nozzle assembly into atmospheric conditions in a direction substantially normal to the coating surface, wherein the inert gas is directed to form a buffer zone that substantially prevents the first precursor from mixing with the second precursor.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the unit cell includes a first exhaust channel arranged between the first precursor nozzle assembly and the inert gas nozzle assembly and a second exhaust channel arranged between the second precursor nozzle assembly and the inert gas nozzle assembly and the method further comprises removing one of unreacted first precursor and reaction byproduct through a first exhaust channel and removing one of unreacted second precursor and reaction byproduct through the second exhaust channel.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first precursor and the second precursor are emitted simultaneously.
5 . The method of claim 1 , comprising moving the deposition head in a lateral direction over the coating surface.
6 . The method of claim 1 , comprising moving the substrate in a lateral direction beneath the deposition head.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the deposition head is separated from the coating surface by a distance of between 0.5 and 5 mm.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first precursor reacts with the coating surface to form a chemically altered surface and the second precursor reacts with the chemically altered surface to form a solid material layer.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the deposition head includes multiple unit cells.
10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the deposition head is stationary and the relative movement comprises moving the substrate coating surface past the deposition head at a velocity ranging from 10-35 m/min.
11 . A deposition system comprising:
a substrate including a coating surface;
a deposition head including a unit cell having a first precursor nozzle assembly and a second precursor nozzle assembly, wherein the first precursor nozzle assembly is constructed and arranged to emit a first precursor into atmospheric conditions in a direction substantially normal to the coating surface and the second precursor nozzle assembly is constructed and arranged to emit a second precursor into atmospheric conditions in a direction substantially normal to the coating surface; and
an actuator associated with the deposition head and/or the substrate, the actuator configured to generate relative motion between the deposition head and the substrate for exposing a first area of the coating surface to the first precursor followed by exposing the first area of the coating surface to the second precursor.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the unit cell has an inert gas nozzle assembly arranged between the first precursor nozzle assembly and the second precursor nozzle assembly.
13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the unit cell includes a first exhaust channel arranged between the first precursor nozzle assembly and the inert gas nozzle assembly and a second exhaust channel arranged between the second precursor nozzle assembly and the inert gas nozzle assembly.
14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the first exhaust channel is isolated from the second exhaust channel.
15 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the actuator comprises a mechanical linear displacement mechanism associated with the substrate.
16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the deposition head is stationary while the mechanical linear displacement mechanism associated with the substrate advances the substrate past the deposition head at a velocity in the range of 3 to 35 meters/minute.
17 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the unit cell is configured with a channel width ranging from 0.7-1.5 mm.
18 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the deposition system is configured to operate with a Dwell Time ranging from 5-50 msec.
19 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the deposition head is separated from the coating surface by a distance of between 0.5 and 5 mm.
20 . The system of claim 12 , wherein each nozzle assembly comprises a precursor orifice plate including one or more orifices passing through the precursor orifice plate wherein the location where gas exits from the one or more orifices is separated from the coating surface by a distance of between 0.5 and 5 mm.
21 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the first precursor nozzle assembly, the second precursor nozzle assembly and the inert gas nozzle assembly each comprise a precursor orifice plate including one or more orifices passing through the precursor orifice plate along a normal axis to the coating surface wherein, the precursor orifice plate separates chambers filled with pressurized gas from atmospheric conditions and wherein each of the one or more orifices is sized to cause choked gas flow exiting from the chambers filled with pressurized gas.
22 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the deposition head includes multiple unit cells.
23 . A deposition head comprising:
a plurality of first precursor nozzle assemblies;
a plurality of second precursor nozzle assemblies;
a plurality of inert gas nozzle assemblies respectively arranged between the first precursor nozzle assemblies and the second precursor nozzle assemblies;
a plurality of first exhaust channels arranged between the first precursor nozzle assemblies and the inert gas nozzle assemblies;
a plurality of second exhaust channels arranged between the second precursor nozzle assemblies and the inert gas nozzle assemblies,
a first precursor delivery system for delivering first precursor to each of the plurality of first precursor nozzles;
a second precursor delivery system for delivering second precursor to each of the plurality of second precursor nozzles;
an inert gas delivery system for delivering inert gas to each of the plurality of inert gas nozzles; and
an exhaust gas removal system for drawing exhaust gas through each of the first exhaust channels and each of the second exhaust channels and removing the exhaust gas from deposition head.
24 . The deposition head of claim 23 , wherein the exhaust gas removal system segregates exhaust gas drawn from the first exhaust channels from exhaust gas drawn from the second exhaust channels.
25 . The deposition head of claim 23 , wherein the first and second precursor nozzle assemblies each comprise a precursor orifice plate including at least one orifice passing through the precursor orifice plate along a normal axis to the coating surface wherein, the precursor orifice plate separates chambers filled with pressurized precursor and inert gas from atmospheric conditions and wherein the at least one orifice is sized to cause choked gas flow exiting from the chambers filled with pressurized gas.
26 . The deposition head of claim 25 , wherein the at least one orifice comprises a plurality of circular orifices each having a diameter ranging from 0.25-0.127 mm.