US 4,790,262 AGranted

Thin-film coating apparatus

AssigneeTokyo Denshi Kagaku Co., Ltd.

InventorsMuneo Nakayama, Akira Uehara, Hiroyoshi Sago, Hideyuki Mizuki

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Abstract

A thin-film coating apparatus for coating a thin film on a material includes a casing, a spinner mounted in the casing for rotating the material, and a pipe disposed upwardly of the spinner and having in a lower end thereof a nozzle for dropping a film-forming coating solution onto the material. The casing comprises an annular upper plate, a cylindrical circumferential wall, and a bottom plate. The annular upper plate has defined therein gas flow passages for passage of an inert gas such as an N.sub.2 gas introduced from an exterior supply source, and gas ejector holes defined in the upper surface of the annular upper plate in communication with the gas flow passages for ejecting the inert gas toward the pipe.

Claims5

Dependent claims

An apparatus for coating a thin film on a workpiece comprising:

a casing, including an annular top plate having a circular hole at its center, an annular bottom plate having a circular hole at its center, and a substantially cylindrical wall interconnecting said top and bottom plates;
a spinner for supporting said workpiece within said casing;
first means for rotating said spinner;
second means, disposed upwardly of said spinner, for applying a coating material in liquid form onto the workpiece, said second means including a nozzle from which said coating material in liquid form is ejected;
and
third means for directing an inert gas to said nozzle so as to provide an inert atmosphere between said nozzle and the surface of said workpiece, wherein said third means includes a plurality of inert gas passages defined in said top plate of the casing, each having one end connectable to an external inert gas source, and a plurality of orifices formed at the top surface of said top plate in circumferentially equally spaced relation and in communication with the other end of said gas passages, said inert gas being directed through said orifices to said nozzle.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.