Abstract: A method for the low temperature, microwave enhanced, chemical vacuum deposition of thin film material onto a surface of a hollow member by creating a sub-atmospheric pressure condition adjacent the surface to be coated while maintaining the applicator through which microwave energy is introduced at substantially atmospheric pressure.

Abstract: Transparent, refractory coatings and methods for their application to environmentally exposed substrates are disclosed. The coatings can be deposited over organic decorative materials, which generally prevent application of hard, protective, inorganic materials due to emission of exudates and vulnerability to excessive heat. The coatings are applied using plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition techniques that reduce reaction temperatures and produce multilayer structures that seal organic exudates before a final layer of coating is applied, such multilayer protective coating structures being particularly suitable for protecting automobile bodies and the like against degrading external forces.

Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus and method is equipped with a vacuum chamber, helmoltz coils, Ioffe bars, a microwave generator and gas feeding systems. An auxiliary magnet is further provided in order to strengthen the magnetic field in the vacuum chamber to produce centrifugal drifting force which confine the plasma gas about the center position of the vacuum chamber. Specifically, the method includes establishing a first magnetic field in the vacuum chamber substantially parallel to the direction of propagation of microwaves emitted in the chamber and establishing a second magnetic field substantially perpendicular to the first magnetic field. A substrate in the chamber for plasma processing is placed so that a surface of the substrate is substantially perpendicular to the direction of the first magnetic field and parallel to the direction of the second.

Abstract: A method is disclosed employing electron cyclotron resonant (ECR) heating to produce plasma for applications including but not limited to chemical vapor deposition and etching. A magnetic field is formed by magnets circumferentially arranged about a cylindrical and symmetrical chamber with microwave power injected perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the chamber for preventing line-of-sight communication of resulting energetic electrons through an outlet at one axial end of the chamber. The circumferential magnets in the symmetrical chamber cause precessing of the electrons resulting in greatly increased plasma density and ion flux or current density even at low gas pressures which are preferably maintained for establishing unidirectionality or anisotropic plasma characteristics.

Abstract: Open circuit voltage of photovoltaic devices manufactured by a microwave deposition process is increased by disposing a bias wire in the microwave energized plasma and applying a positive voltage of approximately 100 volts to the wire during only a portion of the time in which the intrinsic semiconductor layer is being deposited.

Abstract: Method of manufacturing polycrystalline diamond layers, in which diamond crystallites are deposited by means of Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) on a substrate heated to a temperature ranging between 450.degree. and 1200.degree. C. from a gas phase comprising hydrogen and .ltoreq.30% of a carbon-containing gas at a pressure ranging between 10.sup.-5 and 1 bar, in which method the substrate is contacted with a gas phase having an energy content which varies in time, such that at least at the start of the deposition process the substrate is in contact with a gas phase having an energy content which is suitable for nucleating diamond crystallites in the gas phase, whereafter the substrate is contacted with a gas phase having an energy content which is increased with respect to the content at the start of the process and further diamond crystallites are formed in situ on the substrate surface nucleated with diamond crystallites formed in the gas phase.

Abstract: A process for forming a high quality polycrystalline semiconductor film on an insulating substrate which comprises using a MW-PCVD apparatus comprising a plasma generation chamber provided with a microwave introducing means and a film-forming chamber connected through a grid electrode to said plasma generation chamber, said film-forming chamber containing said insulating substrate positioned on a substrate holder made of a conductive material being installed therein, producing plasma by contacting a film-forming raw material gas with a microwave energy applied through said microwave introducing means in said plasma generation chamber and introducing said plasma into said film-forming chamber while applying a high frequency voltage with a frequency in the range of from 20 to 500 MHz between said grid electrode and said substrate holder to thereby cause the formation of said polycrystalline semiconductor film on said insulating substrate maintained at a desired temperature.

Abstract: A microwave plasma generating apparatus for generating plasma by radiating microwave into a space in which electric discharge takes place contains a plurality of microwave radiating means for radiating a plurality of microwaves having different directions of electric fields from each other. This microwave plasma generating apparatus can produce a diamond thin film by exciting a carbon source gas supplied into the space and bringing the excited gas into contact with a substrate to be formed thereon with the diamond thin film, the substrate being disposed in the space in which the electric discharge is performed. This apparatus can produce a large volume of plasma in a stable fashion and, as a result, provide a diamond thin film in a large area as a whole.

Abstract: Diamond films can be formed on a surface by virtue of a microwave energy. A catalyst gas is introduced into a reaction chamber for ECR CVD, along with a carbon compound gas. The catalyst gas consists of a gaseous compound of nickel, germanium and/or manganese such as NiH.sub.2 NiF, NiO, NiF(H.sub.2 O)n (where n=1.3), Ni(CN).sub.2, Ni(C.sub.5 H.sub.5).sub.2, GeH.sub.4, GeF.sub.4, manganese carboxyl, MnF.sub.2 and so forth.

Abstract: In a plasma processing device a plasma generation chamber communicates with a processing chamber holding a substrate. A first solenoid is disposed around the generation chamber in a coaxial relationship therewith and a second solenoid is disposed near the substrate. Processing includes generating a gas plasma by flowing a gas into the generation chamber, introducing microwave radiation into the chamber and controlling the first solenoid current to produce a magnetic field in the generation chamber. In particular, the value of a magnetic flux density at any point on a plane perpendicular to an axis of the first solenoid at a lengthwise midpoint is made to be higher than 1.01 times the value of the magnetic flux density satisfying the electron cyclotron resonance condition. And the value of the magnetic flux density at any point on a plane perpendicular to the axis of the first solenoid at an end is made to be lower than 0.

Abstract: A microwave plasma film deposition system using the microwave plasma in a state in which a magnetic field is applied to a plasma cavity for generating the plasma. The microwave plasma film deposition system can stably deposit a metal thin film by separating an insulating window for supplying the microwave to the plasma cavity from a region to which the magnetic field is applied, limiting the form and the size of a waveguide and regulating the process conditions (mainly, the pressure of gases in the system).

Abstract: A process for depositing a layer containing boron and nitrogen on a substrate by decomposing one or more N-substituted borazoles in the presence of the substrate, in particular by a plasma CVD process.

Abstract: In depositing an adhering, continuous, polycrystalline diamond film of optical or semiconductor quality on a substrate, as by forming on the substrate a layer of a refractory nitride interlayer and depositing diamond on the interlayer without mechanical treatment or seeding of the substrate or the interlayer, the substrate is heated in a vacuum chamber containing a microwave activated mixture of hydrogen and a gas including carbon, and the size of deposited diamond crystallites and their rate of deposition selectively varied by a bias voltage applied to the substrate.

Abstract: Diamond-like thin films having high uniformity and high crystallinity are produced by introducing a hydrocarbon material gas into a chamber, ionizing the gas, and depositing the ionized gas on a substrate. The gas is ionized by thermionic emission from two or more files of hot cathodes, each file having a plurality of filaments arranged at substantially uniform intervals in a linear or zigzag line configuration. Each file of hot cathodes is surrounded separately by an anode at a substantially uniform distance from a respective file of the filaments.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the deposition of coatings containing silicon and oxygen from vaporized hydrogen silsesquioxane resin. The process comprises introducing the hydrogen silsesquioxane vapor into a deposition chamber containing the substrate to be coated and then inducing reaction of the vapor to form the coating.

Abstract: A manufacturing method of a forming die includes the steps of depositing a film of aluminum nitride or aluminum oxynitride on the forming surface of a forming member by passing an electric discharge through a mixture gas of halide of aluminum and a gas containing nitrogen atoms and hydrogen atoms or a mixture gas of halide of aluminum, a gas containing nitrogen atoms and a gas containing oxygen atoms by the application of a microwave and thereby ionizing the mixture gas, and fixing such a forming member on a die.