An apparatus for contactless transportation of a device in a vacuum processing system is described. The apparatus includes: a magnetic transportation arrangement for providing a magnetic levitation force (F.sub.L) for levitating the device, the magnetic transportation arrangement comprising one or more active magnetic units; a sensor for monitoring a motion of the device, and a controller configured for controlling the one or more active magnetic units based on a signal provided by the sensor.

The present disclosure provides a sputtering reaction chamber and a process assembly of the sputtering reaction chamber. The process assembly includes a shield, and the shield includes an integrally formed body member and a cover ring member, wherein the body member may be in a ring shape. The cover ring member may extend from a bottom of the body member to an inner side of the body member and may be configured to press an edge of a to-be-processed workpiece when a process is performed. A cooling channel may be arranged in the cover ring member and the body member and may be configured to cool the cover ring member and the body member by transferring coolant. The process assembly of the sputtering reaction chamber and the sputtering reaction chamber provided by the present disclosure can reduce heat radiation of the process assembly to the to-be-processed workpiece and released gases and impurities to effectively reduce a whisker defect and improve a product yield.

Following a determination that the distance along the Z-direction between the substrate and the mask is greater than the distance along the Z-direction to the nearest end of depth of field (DOF) for a camera from the near side of the mask, a control unit reduces the distance between the X-Y position of a substrate-mark and the X-Y position of the associated mask-mark, with a high-speed relative approach along the Z-direction between the substrate and the mask. Following a determination that the distance along the Z-direction between the substrate and the mask is equal to or less than the distance along the Z-direction to the nearest end of depth of field (DOF) from the near side of the mask, the control unit reduces the distance between the X-Y position of the substrate-mark and the X-Y position of the associated mask-mark, with a reduced-speed relative approach along the Z-direction.

Following a determination that the distance along the Z-direction between the substrate and the mask is greater than the distance along the Z-direction to the nearest end of depth of field (DOF) for a camera from the near side of the mask, a control unit reduces the distance between the X-Y position of a substrate-mark and the X-Y position of the associated mask-mark, with a high-speed relative approach along the Z-direction between the substrate and the mask. Following a determination that the distance along the Z-direction between the substrate and the mask is equal to or less than the distance along the Z-direction to the nearest end of depth of field (DOF) from the near side of the mask, the control unit reduces the distance between the X-Y position of the substrate-mark and the X-Y position of the associated mask-mark, with a reduced-speed relative approach along the Z-direction.

The preparation method for a nano composite coating having a shell-simulated multi-arch structure includes: constructing a discontinuous metal seed layer using a vacuum plating technology; and inducing the deposition of a continuous multi-arch structure layer utilizing the discontinuous metal seed layer, thereby realizing the controllable orientated growth of the nano composite coating having the shell-simulated multi-arch structure. The nano composite coating having the shell-simulated multi-arch structure is of a red abalone shell-simulated nacreous layer aragonite structure, meanwhile has high hardness and high temperature resistance, has excellent performances such as high breaking strength, low friction coefficient and corrosion and abrasion resistance in seawater under the condition of maintaining good breaking tenacity, is simple and controllable in preparation process and low in cost, has unlimited workpiece shapes, is easily produced on large scale, and has huge potential in the fields of new energy, efficiency power, ocean engineering, nuclear energy, and micro-electronic/optoelectronic devices.

Packaging materials and methods of manufacture are disclosed. The packaging material comprises a substrate surface and film coating selected from the group consisting of an elastomer, a polymer, an inorganic material and combinations thereof. The film coating includes a first layer and a second layer, the first layer deposited on the second layer. The first layer has a formula of SiO.sub.xN.sub.yC.sub.z, where x is in a range from 1.9 to 2.15, y is in a range from 0.01 to 0.08, and z is in a range from 0.10 to 0.40.

A roller for transporting a flexible substrate is described. The roller includes a first coolant supply for cooling a first part of the roller and a second coolant supply for cooling a second part and a third part of the roller. The first part is provided between the second part and the third part. Additionally, a vacuum processing apparatus including a roller and a method of cooling a roller are described.

A deposition system is provided for guiding a flexible substrate along a deposition path. The deposition system includes a payout hub for unwinding the flexible substrate; a pickup hub for winding the flexible substrate; one or more evaporation sources (300); one or more electrodes (510) spaced apart from the one or more evaporation sources in a first direction; one or more measurement devices (550); and a controller (601) configured to adjust one or more voltages provided to the one more electrodes.

The present disclosure provides a flexible workpiece pedestal capable of tilting a workpiece support surface. The workpiece pedestal further includes a heater mounted on the workpiece support surface. The heater includes a plurality of heating sources such as heating coils. The plurality of heating sources in the heater allows heating the workpiece at different temperatures for different zones of the workpiece. For example, the workpiece can have a central zone heated by a first heating coil, a first outer ring zone that is outside of the central zone heated by a second heating coil, a second outer ring zone that is outside of the first outer ring zone heated by a third heating coil. By using the tunable heating feature and the tilting feature of the workpiece pedestal, the present disclosure can reduce or eliminate the shadowing effect problem of the related workpiece pedestal in the art.

A physical vapor deposition (PVD) system is provided. The PVD system includes a PVD chamber defining a PVD volume within which a target material of a target is deposited onto a wafer. The PVD system includes the target in the PVD chamber. The target is configured to overlie the wafer. An edge of the target extends from a first surface of the target to a second surface of the target, opposite the first surface of the target. A first portion of the edge of the target has a first surface roughness. The first portion of the edge of the target extends at most about 6 millimeters from the first surface of the target to a second portion of the edge of the target. The second portion of the edge of the target has a second surface roughness less than the first surface roughness.