Patent ID: 8689731
Filing Date: 2014-04-08
Classification: C23C,Y02T

Abstract:
1. A coating apparatus in which a component to be coated is fitted and subsequently coated, comprising: a reference plate that is optically examinable within the coating apparatus, the reference plate being optically transparent; a coating material source that deposits a coating material on at least two substrates at different times, the at least two substrates including the component and the reference plate; an illumination source that illuminates a coated side of the reference plate when the reference plate is used as the substrate; a sensor that optically examines a geometry of a deposition of the coating material on the reference plate by measuring a transmission of the illumination through the reference plate, when the reference plate is used as the substrate, wherein the sensor and the illumination source are arranged on opposite sides of the reference plate when the reference plate is used as the substrate; and an evaluation unit that processes data from the sensor regarding the geometry of the deposition of the coating material on the reference plate, to evaluate an alignment of the component and/or the coating material source.