Nanoscale thin film deposition systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12168244-B2
Application number	US-202117801481-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2021
Priority date	Feb 25, 2020
Publication date	Dec 17, 2024
Grant date	Dec 17, 2024

Abstract

A method and system for nanoscale precision programmable profiling on substrates. Profiling material is dispensed on a substrate or a superstrate. The superstrate is brought in contact with the substrate. The profiling material is then cured after bringing the superstrate in contact with the substrate. The superstrate is separated from the substrate after curing. An optical metrology of points on the substrate corresponding to the final substrate profile is then performed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for nanoscale precision programmable profiling, the system comprising:
a profiling module, wherein said profiling module has an inkjet for dispensing profiling material;
a subsystem for handling a roll-based superstrate, wherein said superstrate is used to form a contiguous film of said profiling material between said superstrate and a substrate;
a subsystem for handling said substrate comprising a vacuum chuck and a vertical tip-tilt stage, wherein an intermittent movement of said vacuum chuck with said vertical tip-tilt stage enables a formation of said contiguous film of said profiling material;
a subsystem for curing said profiling material; and
a metrology module.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein said profiling module further comprises:
a subsystem for alignment of said superstrate with said substrate.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein said profiling module further comprises:
a subsystem for mitigation of bubbles when forming a contiguous film of said profiling material between said superstrate and said substrate.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein said superstrate has a portion that is textured or patterned.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein said substrate is fixed on said vacuum chuck that translates on a stage between said profiling and metrology modules.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein said substrate is nominally flat.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein said substrate is nominally non-flat.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein said subsystem for curing said profiling material comprises an ultraviolet transparent vacuum chuck.

9. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein said metrology module comprises one or more of the following: a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, an interferometer, an optical profilometer, a reflectometer, and a spectrophotometer.

10. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein said system is used to profile precision optical components or XR waveguide substrates.

11. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein said system is used to correct flatness or total thickness variation (TTV) errors in substrates.

12. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein said system is used to profile ophthalmic or trial lenses with higher order aberrations.

13. The system as recited in claim 1 further comprising:
a module for communication, data transfer and exchange with one of the following: a local computer, a remote computer, a cloud-base datacenter and a cloud- based workstation.

14. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein profiling material dispensing locations are determined using an algorithm run in one of the following locations: a local computer, a remote computer, and a cloud-based computer.

Assignees

• Univ Texas

Inventors

• Sreenivasan Sidlgata V
• Pandya Parth
• Choi David
• Singhal Shrawan
• Dunn Lawrence

Classifications

• B82Y35/00

  Methods or apparatus for measurement or analysis of nanostructures · CPC title

• G01B13/22

  for measuring roughness or irregularity of surfaces · CPC title

• B29D11/0073

  Optical laminates · CPC title

• B29D11/00432

  Auxiliary operations, e.g. machines for filling the moulds (B29D11/00125 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B32B37/0038

  involving application of liquid to the layers prior to lamination, e.g. wet laminating (B32B37/12 takes precedence) · CPC title