Cleaning and pretreating. Automatic production system. Linking ultrasound cleaning and PVD coating

A novel type of PVD coating installation opens the possibility to link ultrasound cleaning with PVD coating in an automatic manufacturing system. The manual handling between cleaning and coating falls short. With automation, quality assurance becomes simpler, the throughput higher, and operation costs lower. The discussion covers the charging installation; the PVD inline system; the inline substrate basket; the linking up; the ultrasound cleaning facility; and quality assurance and cost effectiveness. After the basic prerequisite for linking the cleaning and coating is created, with the aid of a suitable transport system a production system can be drawn up suitable to the given site conditions. Such a system is illustrated schematically. The ultrasound facility is upstream of the PVD coating facility. It has nine wash tanks The facility makes available three different ultrasound cleaning baths with different cleaning schemes. After each ultrasound bath there is a rinsing bath. A good rinsing makes for the success of the cleaning. The irrigation water is conducted between the individual cleaning steps over two separated cyclic units to minimize the use of fresh water. The associated fine cleaning with demineralized water also operates in a cycle. The substrate is dried in a vacuum. Vacuum drying assures a rapid and secure drying in drill holes and capillaries as well. Another advantage is that this drying atmosphere contains no particulate matter.