Profiles for precursors to polymeric materials
Methods for obtaining a profile for a batch, or lot, of a precursor material and using the profile while processing the precursor material to form a polymer are disclosed. In such a method, a process profile that corresponds to the characteristics of a particular precursor material (e.g., the batch, etc.) may be generated. That process profile may then be used to cause a material processing system to process the precursor material in a manner that accounts for differences between that precursor material and a “standard” precursor material, while providing a polymer and, optionally, a film of “standard” quality. Apparatuses and systems that are configured to obtain profile data for a batch of precursor material, generate or modify a process profile based on the profile data and use the process profile to form a polymer are also disclosed.
1. A method for processing a precursor material to deposit a polymeric film onto a substrate, comprising:
receiving a boat carrying a quantity of precursor material and a tag into a receptacle associated with a vaporization chamber of a material deposition apparatus, the tag storing data corresponding to a process profile that corresponds to the precursor material within the boat;
communicating data from the tag to the material deposition apparatus; and
vaporizing the precursor material within the boat with the material deposition apparatus in accordance with the data stored by the tag.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating the process profile based on the data from the tag, the process profile being used to control vaporization of the precursor material.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the process profile comprises modifying a standard vaporization profile based on the data from the tag.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein generating the process profile comprises comparing an amount of at least one component of the quantity of precursor material to a standard amount of the at least one component in a standard precursor material.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein comparing comprises comparing an amount of at least one impurity in the quantity of precursor material to a standard amount of the at least one impurity in the standard precursor material.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein comparing comprises comparing an amount of at least one solvent in the quantity of precursor material to a standard amount of the at least one solvent in the standard precursor material.
7. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the process profile is effected by the material deposition apparatus or a data processing element of the material deposition apparatus.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein vaporizing the precursor material includes increasing a temperature of the precursor material at a rate in accordance with the data stored by the tag.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the boat comprises receiving a boat carrying a tag storing data regarding one or more characteristics of a batch of precursor material from which the quantity of precursor material was obtained.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein receiving the boat comprises receiving a boat carrying a tag storing data regarding at least one of a quality, a purity or a process profile of a batch of precursor material from which the quantity of precursor material was obtained.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein communicating data from the tag to the material deposition apparatus comprises:
reading the data on the tag using a reader associated with the receptacle and/or the material deposition apparatus; and
communicating the data from the reader to a data processing element of the material deposition apparatus, the data processing element programmed to generate a vaporization profile based on the data and to control the vaporization chamber of the material deposition apparatus to cause the vaporization chamber to vaporize the quantity of precursor material in accordance with the vaporization profile.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein communicating the data from the tag to the material deposition apparatus includes generating a signal configured to carry the data from a reader associated with the material deposition apparatus to a data processing element of the material deposition apparatus.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the boat comprises receiving a boat carrying a quantity of precursor material comprising a quantity of a precursor to a poly(p-xylylene).
14. A method for processing a precursor material to deposit a polymeric film onto a substrate, comprising:
receiving a boat carrying a quantity of precursor material and a tag into a receptacle associated with a vaporization chamber of a material deposition apparatus, the tag storing data that corresponds to the precursor material within the boat;
communicating data from the tag to a data processing element of the material deposition apparatus;
processing the data from the tag with the data processing element; and
vaporizing the precursor material within the boat with the material deposition apparatus in accordance with the data stored by the tag and communicated to and processed by the data processing element.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein receiving the boat comprises receiving a boat carrying a quantity of precursor material and a radiofrequency identification (RFID) tag.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein receiving the boat comprises receiving a boat carrying a quantity of precursor material and an optically scannable element.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein receiving the boat comprises receiving a boat carrying a quantity of precursor material and a barcode.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein receiving the boat comprises receiving a boat carrying a quantity of precursor material and a one-dimensional barcode.
19. The method of claim 17 , wherein receiving the boat comprises receiving a boat carrying a quantity of precursor material and a two-dimensional barcode.
20. The method of claim 14 , wherein processing the data from the tag includes obtaining a process profile for the precursor material.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein obtaining the process profile comprises obtaining a process profile stored on the tag.
22. The method of claim 20 , wherein obtaining a process profile comprises using an index stored on the tag to access a process profile stored by memory associated with the data processing element or on a server with which the data processing element communicates.
23. The method of claim 14 , wherein processing the data from the tag includes generating a process profile for the precursor material.
24. The method of claim 23 , wherein generating the process profile includes inputting the data from the tag into an algorithm.
25. The method of claim 14 , wherein vaporizing the precursor material includes adjusting at least one vaporization parameter according to at least one variation in the type of precursor material, as identified by the data from the tag.
26. The method of claim 25 , wherein adjusting at least one vaporization parameter includes increasing adjusting a temperature profile for heating the vaporization chamber.
27. A method, comprising:
receiving a quantity of precursor material into a receptacle associated with a vaporization chamber of a material deposition apparatus;
exposing a reader of the material deposition apparatus to a tag associated with the quantity of precursor material, the tag storing data that corresponds to the precursor material;
providing a process profile corresponding to one or more characteristics of the precursor material; and
vaporizing the precursor material within the boat with the material deposition apparatus in accordance with the process profile.
28. The method of claim 27 , wherein providing the process profile comprises providing the process profile in conjunction with the data stored by the tag.
29. The method of claim 27 , wherein providing the process profile comprises using the data stored by the tag to cause a data processing element of the material deposition apparatus to access the process profile from a memory device associated with the data processing element and/or from a server with which the data processing element is configured to communicate.
30. The method of claim 27 , wherein providing the process profile includes processing the data with a data processing element of the material deposition apparatus in a manner that generates the process profile.