Direct write™ system
AssigneeOptomec Design Company
InventorMichael J. Renn
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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.
Claims23
A method for the fabrication of a dielectric material on a substrate, comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate;
- applying a force by employing a carrier gas to propel an aerosol comprising a dielectric precursor composition generally toward said substrate;
- collimating said aerosol by surrounding the carrier gas with a coflowing sheath gas to control the direction of flight of said aerosol;
- subsequently passing said aerosol through no more than one orifice;
- depositing said dielectric precursor composition onto said substrate, said precursor composition having a viscosity of not greater than about 100 centipoise and comprising at least a molecular precursor compound to a dielectric material;
- and
- heating said dielectric precursor composition to a temperature of not greater than about 350° C.;
- wherein the deposited dielectric precursor composition has a line width of less than one millimeter.
A method for the fabrication of an inorganic resistor on a substrate, comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate;
- applying a force by employing a carrier gas to propel an aerosol comprising a resistor precursor composition generally toward the substrate;
- collimating said aerosol by surrounding the carrier gas with a coflowing sheath gas to control the direction of flight of said aerosol;
- subsequently passing said aerosol through no more than one orifice;
- depositing said resistor precursor composition onto said substrate, said resistor precursor composition having a viscosity of not greater than about 100 centipoise and comprising at least a resistor precursor compound;
- and
- heating said resistor precursor composition to a temperature of not greater than about 350° C. to convert said resistor precursor composition to an inorganic resistor;
- wherein the deposited dielectric precursor composition has a line width of less than one millimeter.
A method for the fabrication of a conductive feature on a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a precursor composition comprising a metal precursor compound, wherein the precursor composition has a viscosity between approximately 1 and 1000 cP;
- surrounding particles of the precursor composition with a coflowing sheath gas;
- subsequently passing the particles of the precursor composition through no more than one orifice;
- depositing the precursor composition on a substrate to form a deposit comprising a feature size of less than one millimeter;
- and
- converting the precursor composition to a conductive feature by heating the precursor composition to a conversion temperature of not greater than approximately 200° C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.