Deposition of reactive metals with protection layer for high volume manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024238867-A1
Application number	US-202418621486-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 29, 2024
Priority date	Aug 30, 2019
Publication date	Jul 18, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and apparatus for manufacturing a flexible layer stack, and to a flexible layer stack. Implementations of the present disclosure particularly relate to a method and apparatus for coating flexible substrates with a low melting temperature metal or metal alloy. In one implementation, a method is provided. The method includes delivering a transfer liquid to a quenching surface of a rotating casting drum. The method further includes forming a material layer stack over the rotating casting drum by delivering a molten metal or molten metal alloy toward the quenching surface of the rotating casting drum. The method further includes transferring the material layer stack from the rotating casting drum to a continuous flexible substrate, wherein the quenching surface of the rotating casting drum is cooled to a temperature at which the layers of the material layer stack solidify.

First claim

1 . An evaporation apparatus for forming a molten metal to deposit on a rotating casting drum, comprising:
a container operable to hold a porous material comprising:
a dispenser operable to heat the porous material by direct current flow to form the molten metal;
a first connection and a second connection disposed on the container and operable to couple with a power source, wherein the power source is operable to supply power to heat the dispenser by direct current; and
a drip tray fluidly coupled with a fluid line operable to circulate the porous material from the drip tray to the container.

2 . The evaporation apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first connection is disposed on a first side of the container and the second connection is disposed on a second side of the container.

3 . The evaporation apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the dispenser is operable to heat the porous material to a temperature greater than 1,000 degrees Celsius.

4 . The evaporation apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the container is composed of a metal or a metal alloy.

5 . The evaporation apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the metal or the metal alloy is selected from molybdenum, tantalum, tungsten, nickel, steel and nickel-chromium or nickel-chromium-iron alloys.

6 . The evaporation apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the porous material is a mesh material, a powder, a pellet, or a metal foam.

7 . The evaporation apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the porous material is selected from nickel, molybdenum, or a nickel-molybdenum alloy.

8 . An apparatus, comprising:
a chamber body defining a processing volume; an unwinding roller operable to transport a continuous flexible substrate to be processed through the processing volume; a winding roller operable to receive the continuous flexible substrate having one or more thin films deposited thereon; a pair of rotatable casting drums positioned in the processing volume on opposite sides of a travel path of the continuous flexible substrate, wherein each rotatable casting drum comprises a curved quench surface; and a first deposition source arrangement positioned in the processing volume to deposit a molten metal film on the curved quench surface of each rotatable casting drum.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a second deposition source arrangement positioned to deposit a surface protection film on the curved quench surface of each rotatable casting drum.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the second deposition source arrangement is positioned to deposit the surface protection film on the curved quench surface prior to deposition of the molten metal film by the first deposition source arrangement.

11 . The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a peeling layer deposition source arrangement operable to deliver a transfer liquid to the curved quench surface of the casting drum.

12 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the peeling layer deposition source arrangement is positioned to deposit the transfer liquid on the curved quench surface prior to deposition of the molten metal film by the first deposition source arrangement.

13 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the first deposition source arrangement and the second deposition source arrangement each independently comprises one or more deposition sources selected from a sputtering source, a thermal evaporation source, an e-beam evaporation source, a slot-die coating source, a casting nozzle coating source, a roller coating source, a Meyer rod coating source, a planar flow melt-spin source, a subsonic spray source, an electrostatic spray source, a gas pressure spray source, a thermal spray source, and/or a plasma spray source.

14 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the pair of rotatable casting drums, the unwinding roller, and the winding roller each operable to be independently heated or cooled.

15 . An apparatus, comprising:
a chamber body defining a processing volume; an unwinding roller operable to transport a continuous flexible substrate to be processed through the processing volume; a winding roller operable to receive the continuous flexible substrate having one or more thin films deposited thereon; a pair of rotatable casting drums positioned in the processing volume on opposite sides of a travel path of the continuous flexible substrate, wherein each rotatable casting drum comprises a curved quench surface; a first evaporation apparatus positioned in the processing volume to deposit a molten metal film on the curved quench surface of each rotatable casting drum, comprising:
a container operable to hold a porous material comprising:
a dispenser operable to heat the porous material by direct current flow to form the molten metal;
a first connection and a second connection disposed on the container and operable to couple with a power source, wherein the power source is operable to supply power to heat the dispenser by direct current; and

a drip tray fluidly coupled with a fluid line operable to circulate the porous material from the drip tray to the container.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising a second evaporation apparatus positioned to deposit a surface protection film on the curved quench surface of each rotatable casting drum.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the second evaporation apparatus is positioned to deposit the surface protection film on the curved quench surface prior to deposition of the molten metal film by the first evaporation apparatus.

18 . The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising a peeling layer evaporation apparatus operable to deliver a transfer liquid to the curved quench surface of the casting drum.

19 . The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the peeling layer evaporation apparatus is positioned to deposit the transfer liquid on the curved quench surface prior to deposition of the molten metal film by the first evaporation apparatus.

20 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the pair of rotatable casting drums, the unwinding roller, and the winding roller each operable to be independently heated or cooled.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Herle Subramanya P

Classifications

• B22D11/001

  of specific alloys · CPC title

• B22D11/144 Primary

  with a rotating mould · CPC title

• H01M4/0409

  by a doctor blade method, slip-casting or roller coating · CPC title

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• H01M4/366

  as layered products · CPC title