Direct Write™ System
AssigneeOptomec Design Company
InventorMichael J. Renn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for the deposition of a source material (10) are disclosed. An atomizer (12) renders a supply of source material (10) into many discrete particles. A force applicator (14) propels the particles in continuous, parallel streams of discrete particles. A collimator (16) controls the direction of flight of the particles in the stream prior to their deposition on a substrate (18). In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the viscosity of the particles may be controlled to enable complex depositions of non-conformal or three-dimensional surfaces. The invention also includes a wide variety of substrate treatments which may occur before, during or after deposition. In yet another embodiment of the invention, a virtual or cascade impactor may be employed to remove selected particles from the deposition stream.
Claims15
An apparatus comprising:
- a material source for supplying a material to be deposited;
- an atomizer for producing a plurality of discrete particles from said material source;
- a virtual impactor;
- a carrier gas for propelling said plurality of discrete particles generally toward a substrate;
- a coflowing sheath gas which surrounds said carrier gas for controlling the direction of flight of said plurality of discrete particles;
- and
- a single orifice for narrowing a particle stream comprising said coflowing sheath gas, said carrier gas, and said plurality of discrete particles sufficiently to form a deposited feature comprising a feature size of less than one millimeter on the substrate.
A method of direct writing of a material, the method comprising the steps of:
- supplying the material to be deposited;
- atomizing the material to produce a plurality of discrete particles;
- applying a force by employing a carrier gas to propel the plurality of discrete particles generally toward a substrate;
- collimating the plurality of discrete particles by surrounding the carrier gas with a coflowing sheath gas to control the direction of flight of the plurality of discrete particles;
- subsequently passing the particles through no more than one orifice;
- and
- depositing the plurality of discrete particles on the substrate to form a deposited feature comprising a feature size of less than one millimeter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.