Abstract: In a method for coating strip material by means of an electron beam line evaporator, deflecting in a time-invariant program the electron beam to a plurality of dwell points arranged along a path normal to the direction of strip travel, sensing film thickness in a time-variant programmed mode at a plurality of positions arranged along a course normal to said direction of strip travel and subsequent to said path in said direction of strip travel, controlling in accordance with said programmed mode the dwell of said electron beam at selected dwell points to provide uniform film thickness distribution on said strip.

Abstract: The present invention is a coating apparatus for temperature-sensitive broad strips or similar substrates. To obtain a high quality of coating, it is necessary to minimize the path of the electron beam (EB) through the vapor cloud, and to keep away backscattered electrons from the evaporating material. According to the invention, this problem is solved by assembling a sector field with a vertical field direction at the deflection system connected with the EB gun, which is followed by a deflection field with a horizontal field direction. The divergent electron beam is guided in lines to the evaporating material by the geometry of the fields.