Hybrid pulsed valve for thin film coating and method

A method of coating a thin film on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• simultaneously generating a plurality of droplets of a liquid to coat said substrate;
• and
• subsequent to said droplet generating step, generating a plurality of pulses of gas to contact and envelop said droplets, whereby said droplets are accelerated and propelled toward said substrate at a velocity at impact sufficient to cause break up of said droplets but insufficient to cause droplet splashing or rippling of said coating.

A method of coating a thin film on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• simultaneously generating a plurality of droplets of a liquid to coat said substrate;
• and
• subsequent to said droplet generating step, generating a plurality of pulses of gas to contact and envelop said droplets, whereby said droplets are accelerated and propelled toward a substrate at a ratio .rho.v.sup.2 r/3.sigma. which is slightly greater than 1, where .rho. is the mass density of said liquid, v is the velocity of said droplets, r is the radii of said droplets and .sigma. is the surface tension of said liquid.

A method of coating a thin film on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• generating a droplet of a liquid to coat said substrate;
• and
• accelerating said droplet relative to said substrate at a ratio of .rho.v.sup.2 r/3.rho. which is slightly greater than 1, where p is the mass density of said liquid, v is the velocity of said droplets, r is the radii of said droplets and .sigma. is the surface tension of said liquid, whereby said droplet impacts said substrate such that surface tension of said droplet is broken to form a uniform film on said substrate without ripples or splashing.

A method of coating a thin film on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• generating a droplet of a liquid to coat said substrate;
• and
• accelerating said droplet relative to said substrate sufficiently such that said droplet impacts said substrate at a velocity so that surface tension of said droplet is broken to form a uniform film substantially without forming ripples or splashing.

A method of coating a thin film on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• generating a droplet of a liquid to coat said substrate;
• and
• accelerating said droplet relative to said substrate to impact said substrate, by means other than gravity, at impact whereby said droplet has a relative velocity such that said droplet impacts said substrate and is broken up as a result of said impact to form a film of uniform thickness substantially without forming ripples or splashing.

A method of coating a thin film on a substrate comprising the steps of:

• simultaneously generating a plurality of droplets of a liquid from a plurality of forming means to coat said substrate;
• and
• subsequent to said droplet generating step, generating a plurality of pulses of gas to contact and envelop said droplets in a one-to-one correspondence, whereby said droplets are accelerated and propelled toward a substrate at a velocity such that said droplets are broken up upon impact of said substrate to form a uniform film substantially without forming ripples or splashing.