Methods of modulating flow during vapor jet deposition of organic materials are provided. A method may include ejecting a vapor entrained in a delivery gas from a nozzle onto a substrate upon which the vapor condenses. A confinement gas may be provided that has a flow direction opposing a flow direction of the delivery gas ejected from the nozzle. A vacuum source may be provided that is adjacent to a delivery gas aperture of the nozzle. The method may include adjusting, by an actuator, a fly height separation between a deposition nozzle aperture of the nozzle and a deposition target.

A macroparticle filter device for cathodic arc evaporation, to be placed between at least one arc evaporation source and at least one substrate exhibiting at least a surface to be coated with material evaporated from a cathode of the arc evaporation source in a vacuum coating chamber. The macroparticle filter device includes one or more filter components that can prevent macroparticles emitted by the cathode during cathodic arc evaporation to arrive the substrate surface to be coated. The at least one component is provided as one or more flexible sheets that block the lineal way of the macroparticles from the cathode to the substrate surface to be coated. Further a method for utilizing the macroparticle filter device is presented.

A macroparticle filter device for cathodic arc evaporation, to be placed between at least one arc evaporation source and at least one substrate exhibiting at least a surface to be coated with material evaporated from a cathode of the arc evaporation source in a vacuum coating chamber. The macroparticle filter device includes one or more filter components that can prevent macroparticles emitted by the cathode during cathodic arc evaporation to arrive the substrate surface to be coated. The at least one component is provided as one or more flexible sheets that block the lineal way of the macroparticles from the cathode to the substrate surface to be coated. Further a method for utilizing the macroparticle filter device is presented.

A gas ring for a PVD-source with a cathode having a target for material deposition. The gas ring includes an inner rim and an outer rim and at least one flange between the inner and the outer rim. The gas ring further includes: —a gas inlet; —gas openings arranged circumferentially in or near the inner rim; —at least one circumferential gas channel connected to the gas inlet and/or the gas openings; —a cooling duct.

A method may include providing a set of features in a mask layer, wherein a given feature comprises a first dimension along a first direction, second dimension along a second direction, orthogonal to the first direction, and directing an angled ion beam to a first side region of the set of features in a first exposure, wherein the first side region is etched a first amount along the first direction. The method may include directing an angled deposition beam to a second side region of the set of features in a second exposure, wherein a protective layer is formed on the second side region, the second side region being oriented perpendicularly with respect to the first side region. The method may include directing the angled ion beam to the first side region in a third exposure, wherein the first side region is etched a second amount along the first direction.

Disclosed is a thin film stress control-based coating method for large-area coating. The method uses a two-step coating process in which a first coating layer that is a relatively low-hardness layer is primarily formed on a base member and a second coating layer that is a relatively high-hardness layer is secondarily formed on the first coating layer. The method can form a high-density coating structure that is hardly peeled off over a relatively large area compared to conventional coating methods by suppressing internal stress of the coating layers of the coating structure. Further disclosed is a coating structure manufactured by the same method.

A multi-layer coating on an outer surface of a substrate includes a first layer applied directly to the outer surface of the substrate. The first layer includes diamond-like carbon (DLC) configured to mitigate metal whisker formation. A second layer is applied on a top surface of the first layer. The second layer is a conformal coating that includes a second material configured to bind to the top surface of the first layer and fill any microfractures that may form in the first layer. Optionally, a third layer is applied on a top surface of the second layer and includes DLC configured to protect the second layer from oxidation and degradation.

A coated article is described herein that may comprise a substrate and an optical coating. The substrate may have a major surface comprising a first portion and a second portion. A first direction that is normal to the first portion of the major surface may not be equal to a second direction that is normal to the second portion of the major surface. The optical coating may be disposed on at least the first portion and the second portion of the major surface. The coated article may exhibit at the first portion of the substrate and at the second portion of the substrate hardness of about 8 GPa or greater at an indentation depth of about 50 nm or greater as measured on the anti-reflective surface by a Berkovich Indenter Hardness Test.

A deposition system includes a system housing having a housing interior, a fixture transfer assembly having a generally sloped fixture transfer rail extending through the housing interior, a plurality of sequentially ordered deposition chambers connected by the fixture transfer rail, a controller interfacing with the processing chambers and at least one fixture carrier assembly carried by the fixture transfer rail and adapted to contain at least one substrate. The fixture carrier assembly travels along the fixture transfer rail under influence of gravity. A substrate fixture contains a substrate. The substrate fixture comprises a fixture frame. The fixture frame is defined by multiple circular members adjacently joined in a circular arrangement. Each circular member has a fixture frame opening sized to receive the substrate. Lens support arms may integrate into the circular members, extending in a curved disposition into the fixture frame opening to retain the substrate. A deposition method is also disclosed.

Energy bands of a thin film containing molecular clusters are tuned by controlling the size and the charge of the clusters during thin film deposition. Using atomic layer deposition, an ionic cluster film is formed in the gate region of a nanometer-scale transistor to adjust the threshold voltage, and a neutral cluster film is formed in the source and drain regions to adjust contact resistance. A work function semiconductor material such as a silver bromide or a lanthanum oxide is deposited so as to include clusters of different sizes such as dimers, trimers, and tetramers, formed from isolated monomers. A type of Atomic Layer Deposition system is used to deposit on semiconductor wafers molecular clusters to form thin film junctions having selected energy gaps. A beam of ions contains different ionic clusters which are then selected for deposition by passing the beam through a filter in which different apertures select clusters based on size and orientation.