Patent ID: 8609556

Claim:
A method for depositing a thin film comprising: providing an expanding thermal plasma plume, including at least one chemical component to be deposited; providing a substrate, and transporting the substrate through the plasma plume along a substrate transport path having a substrate transport path direction; providing a mask that is at least partly disposed in the plasma plume and that shields a portion of the substrate transport path from being deposited on, and wherein the method further comprises: designating at least a first deposition zone and a second deposition zone within the plasma plume, such that the first and second deposition zones have a mutually different relative content of the chemical component, and wherein the mask merely extends in an upstream half or downstream half of the plasma plume; wherein the shielded portion of the substrate transport path extends in the direction of the substrate transport path and bridges at least the first deposition zone, while an extremity of said shielded portion is located in the second deposition zone, and wherein said substrate, during transport along the substrate transport path, crosses the shielded portion of the substrate transport path.