US 12,421,601 B2
Rotary reactor for uniform particle coating with thin films
Colin C. Neikirk, Mountain View, CA (US); Pravin K. Narwankar, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Kaushal Gangakhedkar, San Jose, CA (US); Visweswaren Sivaramakrishnan, Cupertino, CA (US); Jonathan Frankel, Los Gatos, CA (US); David Masayuki Ishikawa, Mountain View, CA (US); Quoc Truong, San Ramon, CA (US); and Joseph Yudovsky, Campbell, CA (US)
Assigned to Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed by Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed on Nov. 9, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/522,869.
Application 17/522,869 is a continuation of application No. 16/438,371, filed on Jun. 11, 2019, granted, now 11,174,552.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/683,763, filed on Jun. 12, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0064794 A1, Mar. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. C23C 16/455 (2006.01); A61K 9/50 (2006.01); C23C 16/44 (2006.01); C23C 16/442 (2006.01)
CPC C23C 16/45544 (2013.01) [C23C 16/4417 (2013.01); C23C 16/442 (2013.01); C23C 16/45578 (2013.01); A61K 9/5089 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for coating particles, comprising:
dispensing particles into a rotary vacuum chamber;
rotating the rotary vacuum chamber along an axial axis of the rotary vacuum chamber in a first direction, comprising maintaining a particle bed formed by a portion of the particles dispensed within the rotary vacuum chamber that remain in a lower portion of the rotary vacuum chamber;
evacuating the rotary vacuum chamber through a vacuum port in the rotary vacuum chamber
rotating a paddle assembly in a second direction such that a plurality of paddles orbit a drive shaft; and
injecting a process gas into the particles through a plurality of gas outlets located on the plurality of paddles wherein, continuously as the plurality of paddles orbit the drive shaft, at least one paddle of the plurality of paddles extends into the particle bed such that at least one gas outlet of the plurality of gas outlets is located within the particle bed formed by the particles to percolate the process gas through the particles held within the rotary vacuum chamber.