US PATENT SUBCLASS 427 / 523
.~ Ion plating or implantation

Current as of: June, 1999
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427 /   HD   COATING PROCESSES

457  DF  DIRECT APPLICATION OF ELECTRICAL, MAGNETIC, WAVE, OR PARTICULATE ENERGY {15}
523.~ Ion plating or implantation {8}
524  DF  .~.~> With simultaneous sputter etching of substrate
525  DF  .~.~> Organic material present in substrate, plating, or implanted layer
526  DF  .~.~> Nonuniform or patterned ion plating or ion implanting (e.g., mask, etc.)
527  DF  .~.~> Silicon present in substrate, plating, or implanted layer
529  DF  .~.~> Inorganic oxide containing plating or implanted material
530  DF  .~.~> Inorganic metal compound present in plating or implanted material (e.g., nitrides, carbides, borides, etc.)
528  DF  .~.~> Metal or metal alloy substrate
531  DF  .~.~> Metal or metal alloy plating or implanted material

DEFINITION

Classification: 427/523

Ion plating or implantation:

(under subclass 457) Processes wherein (1) evaporating a coating material in the presence of an electrical discharge (arc, beam, etc.) in an energetic gaseous medium, which forms or is associated with a cathode polarized by a high negative voltage relative to the source of the coating material, and depositing the coating material onto the substrate, with simultaneous bombardment by ions which cause momentum transfer (sputtering) on the substrate to occur or (2) coating material is introduced into or penetrates the near-surface region of a substrate by directing an accelerated beam or stream of energetic (charged) ions including the coating material, toward the substrate.

(1) Note. The term "ion plating" is applied to a combination of process steps that include: (a) sputtering of the surface of a substrate due to momentum transfer, and; (b) simultaneously or subsequentially depositing a coating on the substrate from a flux of ionic coating material (i.e., usually considered to be a high energy plasma with a small flux of ions and a much larger number of energetic neutrals).

(2) Note. Ion implantation of the near surface region of a substrate to create a distinguishable layer differing in composition from the substrate will be proper for this Class 427, regardless of whether the implantation of this layer is limited to the microstructure or not.

(3) Note. Ion plating, wherein the target material and the substrate are one and the same is proper for this subclass and indented subclasses.

(4) Note. Processes utilizing ion bombardment or ion treating, that specifies neither implanting, etching, plating, etc., but merely recites some change as in the materials characteristic properties will be classified in this and indented subclasses with the proper crosses in Classes 156 or 204 as needed; however processes utilizing ion bombardment or ion treatment merely to treat a substrate surface, either before or after coating are found below, in this class, in the pretreatment and post-treatment area.

SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS:

532+, for pretreatment of a substrate or post-treatment of a coated substrate utilizing ion bombardment or ion treating.

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS 118, Coating Apparatus,

715+, for ion plating apparatus utilizing means other than sputtering for providing the material to be deposited onto the substrate.

148, Metal Treatment, for microstructural change throughout a metal substrate involving the use of ion implantation to effect this change. Placement of the document in this class (427) is proper only when ion implantation is used to coat with incidental surface impregnation.

204, Chemistry: Electrical and Wave Energy, for coating, forming, or etching by sputtering. Class 427 is not proper for sputter etching, per se, which subject matter is classified in Class 204, however the combination of a 427 coating step combined with a 204 etching operation solely to perfect the coating is proper for this class (427). In Class 204 see

192.11, for ion beam sputter deposition, subclass 192.3 for sputter etching, subclass 192.34 for ion beam sputter etching, and subclass 192.12 for glow discharge sputter deposition (e.g., Cathode sputtering, etc.); see subclass 298.02 for apparatus including target means for providing coating material to be deposited onto the substrate by sputtering said target which additionally includes means for ionizing at least a portion of the coating material and applying a potential to the substrate whereby the substrate is simultaneously subjected to electrostatically aided deposition and sputter etching due to ionic bombardment.

250, Radiant Energy,

492.1+, for methods of irradiation, per se, of a material with ions.

438, Semiconductor Device Manufacturing: Process, for processes utilizing ion implantation in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, particularly to form a PN junction.