Method of and apparatus for manufacturing ultrafine particle film

Abstract

A method and apparatus for manufacturing an ultrafine particle film which has great practical utility when deposited on an appropriate substrate. The particle film is produced from various ultrafine particles of, for example, metals, oxides, nitrides and carbides, and is produced uniformly, effectively and efficiently with a high degree of reproducibility. According to a first method, an atmosphere at a gas of a reduced pressure is formed in a vessel, and a forced flow of the gas is formed unidirectionally from an evaporation source to the substrate, so that the evaporated matters from the evaporation source are forced to move together with the forced flow of the gas, so that ultrafine particles which are formed through interaction between the evaporated matters and the gas deposited on the substrate thereby forming the ultrafine particle film. According to a second method, the evaporation source is disposed within a vessel of having a reduced gas pressure as well as a cylinder surrounded by a high-frequency coil. As the coil is energized, the gas in the cylinder is excited. The evaporated matters are forced to flow through the excited gas atmosphere so that ultrafine particles formed by an interaction between the evaporated matters and the excited gas are deposited on the substrate thereby forming the ultrafine particle layer. A third method is a combination of the first and second methods.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.