Non-contact magnetic drive assembly with mechanical stop elements

A non-contact, magnetic drive assembly for a vacuum deposition system employing a lift-off process, the drive assembly comprising:

• a central ring having a plurality of equally-spaced central ring teeth disposed around the central ring a predefined radial distance from a center of the central ring defining a central teeth spacing, and a plurality of equally-spaced, central ring magnets wherein each one of the plurality of magnets is coupled to the central ring a predefined radial distance from a center of the central ring along one of a radial axis of the central ring teeth or a radial axis of the central teeth spacing;
• an orbital ring rotatable about an orbital ring central axis, the orbital ring having a plurality of equally-spaced, orbital ring teeth disposed around the orbital ring a predefined radial distance from a center of the orbital ring defining an orbital teeth spacing wherein the orbital ring teeth are positioned to coincide with the central teeth spacing, and a plurality of equally-spaced, orbital ring magnets wherein each one of the plurality of orbital ring magnets is disposed on the orbital ring a predefined radial distance from a center of the orbital ring along (1) a radial axis of the orbital ring teeth when each of the corresponding plurality of magnets of the central ring is disposed along the radial axis of the central teeth spacing or (2) a radial axis of the orbital ring spacing when each of the corresponding plurality of magnets of the central ring is disposed along the radial axis of the central ring teeth wherein each of the plurality of orbital ring magnets in turn becomes superposed with a corresponding magnet of the plurality of central ring magnets as the orbital ring rotates about the orbital ring central axis, the central teeth spacing and the orbital teeth spacing being larger than the width of each of the corresponding central ring teeth and orbital ring teeth wherein the interleaving of the orbital ring teeth and the central ring teeth defines an orbital/central ring tooth spacing between adjacent orbital ring teeth and central ring teeth;
• and
• a central drive component adapted to drive one of the central ring, the orbital ring around the central ring or both simultaneously, the central drive component providing a rotational speed that allows non-contact, magnetic drive rotation of the orbital ring around the central ring until a difference between the magnetic drive torque provided by the superposed magnets and the rotational speed of the central drive component causes the superposed magnets to decouple enabling mechanical drive rotation by the interactive contact between the central ring teeth and the orbital ring teeth.