Solar array strip and a method for forming the same

A flexible solar array strip is formed by providing printed circuitry between flexible layers of a nonconductive material, depositing solder pads on the printed circuitry, and storing the resulting substrate on a drum from which it is then withdrawn and advanced along a linear path. Solderless solar cells are serially transported into engagement with the pads and are infrared radiation to melt the solder and attach the cells to the circuitry. Excess flux is cleaned from the solar cells which are then encapsulated in a protective coating. The resulting array is then wound on a drum

System for depositing thin films

A system for depositing a thin film of one material on another is described. A mass filter is interposed between the source of material being deposited and the object upon which deposition is being made

Morphology and Structure of Carbon Films Deposited at Varying Chamber Pressures

Depositing thin and thick films through different types of deposition units is a topic of great interest. In deposition chamber, each synthesis is carried out at some value of chamber pressure. In addition to different gases, photon energy also exists in the deposition chamber. Upon dissociation of methane by hot-filaments, the conversion rate of gaseous carbon atoms into graphite and diamond atoms varies largely at varying chamber pressures. Increase in the chamber pressure from 3.3 kPa to 14 kPa changes the morphology and structure of carbon films comprising tiny grains, grains and particles. The increase in chamber pressure upto 8.6 kPa increases the growth rate of a carbon film along with discernible features of grains and particles. For intermediate set chamber pressures, the conversion rate of gaseous carbon atoms into diamond state is high. At high set chamber pressures, gaseous carbon atoms converted into graphite state at high rate. However, film with low growth rate is deposited. At fixed input power, temperature of the hot-filaments changes due to contamination. So, collision rate of gases is also varied at varying chamber pressures. As a result, a different amount of atomic hydrogen is dissociated. Hence, a different amount of typical energy is etched. Atomic hydrogen etches the photon energy into typical energy shape like parabola, which is involved in the conversion of gaseous carbon atoms to graphite and diamond states. Graphite atoms bind under the same involved energy. Atomic hydrogen etches the photon energy and unused parabola shaped energy into typical energy shape like golf-stick, too, which is involved in the process of binding diamond atoms. So, this study sets new trends in the deposition of carbon films

Vacuum deposition apparatus Patent

Describing apparatus used in vacuum deposition of thin film inductive windings for spacecraft microcircuitr

A Maskless Photolithography Apparatus for the Microfabrication of Electrical Leads

Graphene is a new and exciting, two-dimensional material. Particularly interesting are the electrical features of graphene. The small size of graphene used in this experiment (on the scale of microns) presents the need for small electrical leads. Photolithography can be used to make appropriately sized leads by depositing metal onto substrates in specific patterns. The technique uses light to transfer geometric patterns onto a light sensitive photoresist on the surface of a substrate. We have built a low cost, maskless photolithography apparatus assembled from a computer, a consumer grade projector, and a microscope. With multiple exposures, we can make features ranging from approximately 1 μm to 785 μm. The 1 μm feature size is near the theoretical minimum for the wavelength of blue light used, and will be more than sufficient for contacting the flakes of graphene, which average 50 μm in size

Self-organization of quasi-equilibrium stationary condensation in accumulative ion-plasma devices

We consider both theoretically and experimentally self-organization process of quasi-equilibrium steady-state condensation of sputtered substance in accumulative ion-plasma devices. The self-organization effect is shown to be caused by self-consistent variations of the condensate temperature and the supersaturation of depositing atoms. On the basis of the phase-plane method, we find two different types of the self-organization process to be possible. Experimental data related to aluminum condensates are discussed to confirm self-organization nature of quasi-equilibrium steady-state condensation process.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Ion beam sputter etching

An ion beam etching process which forms extremely high aspect ratio surface microstructures using thin sputter masks is utilized in the fabrication of integrated circuits. A carbon rich sputter mask together with unmasked portions of a substrate is bombarded with inert gas ions while simultaneous carbon deposition occurs. The arrival of the carbon deposit is adjusted to enable the sputter mask to have a near zero or even slightly positive increase in thickness with time while the unmasked portions have a high net sputter etch rate

GROWTH OF GRAPHENE FILMS AND GRAPHENE PATTERNS

Large area graphene can be fabricated by depositing carbon and catalytic metal thin film(s) on a substrate, heating the carbon and the catalytic metal, and forming graphene on the substrate. The catalytic metal is evaporated during the heating process. The catalytic metal can be, for example, nickel, cobalt, or iron