Patent ID: 7195797

Claim:
An ion-assisted electron beam evaporation process, the process comprising the steps of: positioning multiple high yield fixtures in an array; adjusting a vertical position of each of the fixtures to compensate for variations in deposition rate versus chamber location; providing two electron guns; mounting the guns to a movable track; moving the first gun to a source deposition location; rotating the fixtures at greater than 2400 rpm; performing ion assisted evaporation with the first gun, the second gun being kept in a first stand-by location in pre-heat mode; ceasing deposition prior to achieving target thickness on each fixture by shuttering each of the fixtures; independently reopening the fixtures to resume deposition at a low rate pulsed deposition to achieve the target thickness; closing shutters on the fixtures; moving the first gun to a second stand-by location; moving the second gun to the source deposition location; sampling evaporation with a quartz crystal thickness monitor; opening a shutter on the second gun; performing ion assisted evaporation with the second gun, the first gun being kept in the second stand-by location in pre-heat mode; ceasing deposition prior to achieving target thickness shuttering each of the fixtures; independently reopening the fixtures to resume deposition at a low rate pulsed deposition to achieve the target thickness; closing shutters on the fixtures; and repeating the process until desired filter is obtained.