Ray I Venable

US Patent:

58885935, Mar 30, 1999

Filed:

Apr 12, 1996

Appl. No.:

8/631170

Inventors:

Rudolph Hugo Petrmichl - Center Valley PA
Leonard Joseph Mahoney - Allentown PA
Ray Hays Venable III - Allentown PA
Norman Donald Galvin - Easton PA
Bradley J. Knapp - Kutztown PA
Fred Michael Kimock - Macungie PA

Assignee:

Monsanto Company - St. Louis MO

International Classification:

H05H 120
H05H 102
H05H 124
C23C 1400

US Classification:

427563

Abstract:

An ion beam deposition method is provided for manufacturing a coated substrate with improved wear-resistance, and improved lifetime. The substrate is first chemically cleaned to remove contaminants. Secondly, the substrate is inserted into a vacuum chamber onto a substrate holder, and the air therein is evacuated via pump. Then the substrate surface is bombarded with energetic ions from an ion beam source supplied from inert or reactive gas inlets to assist in removing residual hydrocarbons and surface oxides, and activating the surface. After sputter-etching the surface, a protective, wear-resistant coating is deposited by plasma ion beam deposition where a portion of the precursor gases are introduced into the ion beam downstream of the ion source, and hydrogen is introduced directly into the ion source plasma chamber. The plasma ion beam-deposited coating may contain one or more layers. Once the chosen coating thickness is achieved, deposition is terminated, vacuum chamber pressure is increased to atmospheric and the coated substrate products having wear-resistance greater than glass are removed from the chamber.

US Patent:

59734477, Oct 26, 1999

Filed:

Jul 25, 1997

Appl. No.:

8/901036

Inventors:

Leonard Joseph Mahoney - Allentown PA
Brian Kenneth Daniels - Allentown PA
Rudolph Hugo Petrmichl - Center Valley PA
Florian Joseph Fodor - Northampton PA
Ray Hays Venable - Allentown PA

Assignee:

Monsanto Company - St. Louis MO

International Classification:

H01J 152

US Classification:

3133591

Abstract:

Plasma beam apparatus and method for the purpose of vacuum processing temperature sensitive materials at high discharge power and high processing rates. A gridless, closed or non-closed Hall-Current ion source is described which features a unique fluid-cooled anode with a shadowed gap through which ion source feed gases are introduced while depositing feed gases are injected into the plasma beam. The shadowed gap provides a well maintained, electrically active area at the anode surface which stays relatively free of non-conductive deposits. The anode discharge region is insulatively sealed to prevent discharges from migrating into the interior of the ion source. Thin vacuum gaps are also used between anode and non-anode components in order to preserve electrical isolation of the anode when depositing conductive coatings. The magnetic field of the Hall-Current ion source is produced by an electromagnet driven either by the discharge current or a periodically alternating current.

US Patent:

56538120, Aug 5, 1997

Filed:

Sep 26, 1995

Appl. No.:

8/534188

Inventors:

Rudolph Hugo Petrmichl - Center Valley PA
Ray Hays Venable - Allentown PA
Rickey Leonard Salter - Northampton PA
Victor M. Zeeman - Bangor PA

Assignee:

Monsanto Company - St. Louis MO

International Classification:

C23C 1600

US Classification:

118723E

Abstract:

The invention is a method and apparatus for the RF plasma deposition of diamond-like carbon (DLC) and related hard coatings onto the surface of drills; especially microdrills such as printed circuit board drills and printed wire board drills, using a mounting means connected to a source of capacitively coupled RF power. A key feature of the apparatus is that the drills to be coated are the only negatively biased surfaces in the capacitively-coupled system. According to the method, the surface of the drills to be coated are first chemically de-greased to remove contaminants, and inserted into the electronically masked coating fixture of the present invention. The electronically masked fixture includes the powered electrode, the portion of the drills to be coated, an electrically insulated spacer, and an electrically grounded shield plate. Next, the loaded fixture is placed into a plasma deposition vacuum chamber, and the air in said chamber is evacuated. Gas is added to the vacuum chamber, and a capacitive RF plasma is ignited, causing the surface of the drills to be sputter-etched to remove residual contaminants and surface oxides, and to activate the surface.