A method and apparatus for thermal evaporation are provided. The thermal evaporator includes a flat crucible design, which provides an increased surface area for evaporation of the material to be deposited relative to conventional designs. The increased surface area for evaporation means that the more vapor of the evaporated material can be produced, which increases pressure inside the evaporator body leading to increased flow of the evaporated material out of the nozzles. The flat crucible can be attached to an evaporator body of the thermal evaporator. The flat crucible can be integrated within the evaporator body. The evaporator body can include a plurality of longitudinal grooves, which increase the surface area of the evaporator body. The thermal evaporator can include a plurality of baffles which divide the thermal evaporator into separate compartments.

An evaporation system for providing a gas for a reactive deposition process, reactive deposition apparatuses, and methods of reactive deposition are provided. The evaporation system in includes a multi-zone diffuser assembly for single or double-sided continuous roll-to-roll or batch coating of web substrates. The diffuser assembly is sized to accommodate at least a portion of a coating drum. The diffuser assembly includes a plurality of interchangeable solid plates and diffuser plates for delivering an evaporated material toward a web substrate. The diffuser plates are fluidly coupled with an evaporation source.

A film forming apparatus for forming a thin film on a flexible substrate. The film forming apparatus forms a thin film on a flexible substrate under vacuum. The film forming apparatus includes a first zone into which a first gas is introduced and a second zone into which a second gas is introduced in a vacuum chamber. Zone separators have openings through which the flexible substrate passes. The film forming apparatus includes a mechanism that reciprocates the flexible substrate between the zones. Further, the film forming apparatus includes a mechanism that supplies a raw material gas containing metal or silicon to the first zone, and a mechanism that performs sputtering of a material containing metal or silicon as a target material in the second zone.

A method for processing a negative electrode plate, a sodium-metal negative electrode plate and related devices. In a vacuum environment, the metal vapor reacts with oxygen, and the metal oxide formed by the reaction is plated on the surface of the sodium-metal negative electrode plate to form a metal oxide protective layer with high mechanical strength and stable chemical properties. The metal oxide protective layer can greatly reduce the phenomenon of low yield and performance deterioration caused by the reaction of sodium metal with air and water during the processing of the sodium-metal negative electrode plate. Since the metal oxide has a nanoscale thickness, it can form a corresponding sodium salt with sodium metal under electrochemical conditions, thereby improving the sodium ion transport rate on the surface of the sodium-metal negative electrode plate and improving the battery’s kinetic performance.

According to various embodiments, the temperature control roller may comprise: a cylindrical roller shell, which has a multiplicity of gas outlet openings; a temperature control device, which is configured to supply and/or extract thermal energy to or from the cylindrical roller shell; multiple gas lines made to extend along the axis of rotation; a gas distributing structure, which couples the multiple gas lines and the multiplicity of gas outlet openings to one another in a gas-conducting manner, the gas distributing structure having a lower structure density than the multiplicity of gas outlet openings.

The invention relates to a holding system (1) for holding substrates (12) for use in a surface processing system having a covering area (20), comprising a plurality of fixing elements (2), a body (24) arranged within the covering area (20) for receiving the fixing elements (2), and a positioning element (26) for adjusting the covering and a machining area (20, 22), wherein a plurality of substrates (12) can be fixed by the fixing elements (2) and processed within the machining area (22).

A method of manufacturing an electronic component including a substrate is provided. The method includes generating a plasma remote from a sputter target, generating sputtered material from the sputter target using the plasma, and depositing the sputtered material on a substrate as a crystalline layer.

Provided is a measuring apparatus, comprising a measuring unit that irradiates a film with light and measures the light transmitted through the film or the light reflected by the film, a moving mechanism that allows the measuring unit to move in a first direction intersecting the direction in which the film is conveyed, the measuring unit includes a light projecting unit that irradiates the film with light, an integrating sphere that collects light from the film, and a light receiving portion that receives the light collected by the integrating sphere.

A method of manufacturing a battery cathode for a solid state battery is provided. The method includes generating a plasma remote from one or more targets suitable for forming cathodes, such as LiCoO.sub.2, exposing the plasma target or targets to the plasma, thereby generating sputtered material from the target or targets, and depositing sputtered material on a first portion of a substrate, thereby forming crystalline material, such as LiCoO.sub.2 on the first portion of the substrate.

A method of manufacturing a crystalline layer of material on a surface, the crystalline layer including lithium, at least one transition metal and at least one counter-ion. The method includes the following steps: generating a plasma using a remote plasma generator, plasma sputtering material from a first target including lithium onto a surface of or supported by a substrate, there being at least a first plume corresponding to trajectories of particles from the first target onto the surface, and plasma sputtering material from a second target including at least one transition metal onto the surface, there being at least a second plume corresponding to trajectories of particles from the second target onto the surface. The first target is positioned to be non-parallel with the second target, the first plume and the second plume converge at a region proximate to the surface of or supported by the substrate, and the crystalline layer is formed on the surface at the region.