Mold for forming a radio frequency (RF) coil for a plasma processing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11545302-B2
Application number	US-202016752446-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2020
Priority date	Jan 24, 2020
Publication date	Jan 3, 2023
Grant date	Jan 3, 2023

Abstract

Various embodiments of molds and methods are disclosed herein for fabricating a radio frequency (RF) coil. The disclosed mold includes a cylindrical inner core having a first helically shaped groove formed within an outer surface of the cylindrical inner core, and a two-piece compression sleeve having a second helically shaped groove formed within an inner surface of the two-piece compression sleeve. When portions of the two-piece compression sleeve are attached together, the two-piece compression sleeve surrounds the cylindrical inner core and provide a compressive force to a conductor arranged within the first and second helically shaped grooves to fabricate the RF coil. In some embodiments, a three-dimensional (3D) printing process may be used to fabricate each piece of the mold separately.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mold for fabricating a radio frequency (RF) coil for use within a plasma processing apparatus, the mold comprising:
a cylindrical inner core having a first helically shaped groove formed within an outer surface of the cylindrical inner core; and
a two-piece compression sleeve having a second helically shaped groove formed within an inner surface of the two-piece compression sleeve, wherein when portions of the two-piece compression sleeve are attached together, the two-piece compression sleeve is configured to surround the cylindrical inner core and provide a compressive force to a conductor arranged within the first and second helically shaped grooves to fabricate the RF coil.

2. The mold of claim 1 , wherein the two-piece compression sleeve comprises a first portion and a second portion, which is removably attached to the first portion with one or more mechanical fasteners.

3. The mold of claim 1 , wherein the two-piece compression sleeve comprises cope and drag compression sleeves which facilitate a negative shape of the RF coil to be formed.

4. The mold of claim 1 , wherein the cylindrical inner core comprises a height between ⅝ inch and 8 inches and a diameter between 1 inch and 24 inches.

5. The mold of claim 1 , wherein the first and second helically shaped grooves each comprise a number of turns between 1 and 100 and a pitch between ⅝ inch and 2 inches.

6. A mold for fabricating a radio frequency (RF) coil for use within a plasma processing apparatus, the mold comprising:
a cylindrical inner core having a first helically shaped groove formed within an outer surface of the cylindrical inner core; and
a two-piece compression sleeve having a second helically shaped groove formed within an inner surface of the two-piece compression sleeve, wherein when portions of the two-piece compression sleeve are attached together, the two-piece compression sleeve is configured to surround the cylindrical inner core and provide a compressive force to a conductor arranged within the first and second helically shaped grooves to fabricate the RF coil, wherein the cylindrical inner core and the two-piece compression sleeve are fabricated by three-dimensional (3D) printing a thermoplastic polymer material having a glass transition temperature above 100° C. and a compressive strength above 200 MPa.

7. The mold of claim 6 , wherein the two-piece compression sleeve comprises a first portion and a second portion, which is removably attached to the first portion with one or more mechanical fasteners.

8. The mold of claim 6 , wherein the two-piece compression sleeve comprises cope and drag compression sleeves which facilitate a negative shape of the RF coil to be formed.

9. The mold of claim 6 , wherein the cylindrical inner core comprises a height between ⅝ inch and 8 inches and a diameter between 1 inch and 24 inches.

10. The mold of claim 6 , wherein the first and second helically shaped grooves each comprise a number of turns between 1 and 100 and a pitch between ⅝ inch and 2 inches.

11. A mold for fabricating a radio frequency (RF) coil for use within a plasma processing apparatus, the mold comprising:
a cylindrical inner core having a first helically shaped groove formed within an outer surface of the cylindrical inner core; and
a two-piece compression sleeve having a second helically shaped groove formed within an inner surface of the two-piece compression sleeve, wherein when portions of the two-piece compression sleeve are attached together, the two-piece compression sleeve is configured to surround the cylindrical inner core and provide a compressive force to a conductor arranged within the first and second helically shaped grooves to fabricate the RF coil, wherein the conductor comprises copper or aluminum.

12. The mold of claim 11 , wherein the two-piece compression sleeve comprises a first portion and a second portion, which is removably attached to the first portion with one or more mechanical fasteners.

13. The mold of claim 11 , wherein the two-piece compression sleeve comprises cope and drag compression sleeves which facilitate a negative shape of the RF coil to be formed.

14. The mold of claim 11 , wherein the cylindrical inner core comprises a height between ⅝ inch and 8 inches and a diameter between 1 inch and 24 inches.

15. The mold of claim 11 , wherein the first and second helically shaped grooves each comprise a number of turns between 1 and 100 and a pitch between ⅝ inch and 2 inches.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Hummel Michael

Classifications

• B29C64/141

  using only solid materials · CPC title

• B33Y80/00

  Products made by additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B29C41/40

  Cores · CPC title

• H01F41/04 Primary

  for manufacturing coils {(coils for transformer or inductances H01F27/28)} · CPC title