US 12,134,091 B2
Reactor for coating particles in stationary chamber with rotating paddles
Jonathan Frankel, Los Gatos, CA (US); Colin C. Neikirk, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Pravin K. Narwankar, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Quoc Truong, San Ramon, CA (US); Govindraj Desai, Karnataka (IN); and Sekar Krishnasamy, Bangalore (IN)
Assigned to Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed by Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed on Jun. 21, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/212,599.
Application 18/212,599 is a division of application No. 16/855,860, filed on Apr. 22, 2020, granted, now 11,717,800.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/838,233, filed on Apr. 24, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2023/0347310 A1, Nov. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. C23C 16/44 (2006.01); B01F 27/112 (2022.01); B01F 27/70 (2022.01); B01J 8/10 (2006.01); B05D 1/00 (2006.01); B01F 101/22 (2022.01)
CPC B01J 8/10 (2013.01) [B01F 27/112 (2022.01); B01F 27/70 (2022.01); B05D 1/60 (2013.01); C23C 16/4417 (2013.01); B01F 2101/22 (2022.01); B01J 2208/00867 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of coating particles, comprising:
dispensing particles into a lower portion of a vacuum chamber, wherein the lower portion of the vacuum chamber forms a half-cylinder having a horizontally extending axial axis;
evacuating the vacuum chamber through a vacuum port in an upper portion of the vacuum chamber;
rotating a drive shaft secured to a plurality of paddles such that the plurality of paddles orbit the drive shaft and agitate the particles in the lower portion of the vacuum chamber, the plurality of paddles including a plurality of groups of paddles positioned at different positions along the drive shaft with each group of paddles positioned in a common plane normal to the drive shaft while a powder bed provided by the particles remains in the lower portion of the vacuum chamber;
injecting a reactant or precursor gas through an aperture in the lower portion of the vacuum chamber as the plurality of paddles rotates such that the reactant or precursor gas flows upward through the powder bed in the lower portion of the vacuum chamber; and
withdrawing, through the aperture in the lower portion, the particles from the vacuum chamber.