Method and system for thick-film deposition of ceramic materials
AssigneeVanderbilt University
InventorWilliam Hofmeister
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of depositing a solid film on a substrate in which a stream comprising particles suspended in a transport gas is moved through a heating zone. The particles are combined with the transport gas from a powder feeder operatively coupled to a gas flow tube. The particle stream is directed toward the heating zone by ejecting the powder stream from a nozzle connected to a distal end of the gas flow tube. A radiation source is directed at the suspended particles as they move through the heating zone so that the particles heated to a molten state. The droplets are undercooled in a cooling zone before impact with the substrate.
Claims34
A method of depositing a ceramic film on a substrate comprising the steps of:
- a. directing a powder stream through a heating zone, said powder stream comprising a moving stream of suspended ceramic particles;
- b. directing a directed photonic radiation source at the suspended ceramic particles as they move through the heating zone so to heat the particles to a molten state thereby creating liquid phase ceramic droplets that are suspended in the moving stream, said directed photonic source providing the majority of heating of the suspended ceramic particles while within the heating zone wherein the directed photonic source is generally not directed towards the substrate and the substrate is generally not heated by the directed photonic source;
- and
- c. cooling the droplets to an undercooled state before impact with the substrate.
A method of forming a solid film of a ceramic material on a substrate comprising:
- a. feeding particles of the ceramic material into a gas flow tube containing a transport gas to form a moving particle stream;
- b. ejecting the particle stream from a nozzle into a heating zone, said heating zone comprising the focus zone of a of high flux optical radiation source;
- c. melting the ceramic particles in the heating zone to create liquid droplets of the ceramic material, wherein the high flux optical radiation source provides the majority of heating of the suspended ceramic particles while within the heating zone, and wherein the high flux optical radiation source is not directed towards the substrate and the substrate is not heated by the high flux optical radiation source;
- d. cooling the liquid droplets to an undercooled state;
- and
- e. depositing the droplets on the substrate.
A method of forming a solid film of a ceramic material on a substrate comprising suspending a powder made of the ceramic material in a moving transport gas, melting the powder to form liquid droplets of the ceramic material, directing the droplets through a cooling region towards the substrate, and undercooling the droplets so that upon contact with the substrate the droplets solidify directly from a liquid phase to a 1:2:3 solid phase, wherein the suspended ceramic powder is melted by a directed photonic radiation source, said directed photonic source providing the majority of heating of the suspended ceramic powder, and wherein the directed photonic source is not directed towards the substrate and the substrate is not heated by the directed photonic source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.