Apparatus for sputtering cylinders

Claim 1

Apparatus for sputtering a photoconductive coating onto a seamless sleeve of metal which comprises: (A) a sputtering vessel of metal having side wall means and spaced end walls, one of said end walls being separable from the adjacent side wall means and means for moving the side wall means and said one end wall relative to one another along a linear path between a closed position whereat a sealed sputtering chamber is defined within said vessel and an opened position whereat the said one end wall is spaced from the side wall means; (B) a mandrel and means associated with said mandrel for removably holding the sleeve in rigid cylindrical configuration, said sleeve otherwise being thin walled and normally collapsible, and shaft means associated with the mandrel disposed coaxially of the cylindrical sleeve configuration; (C) mounting means associated with at least said one end wall for supporting said mandrel shaft means for uniform rotation of the mandrel and sleeve thereon about an axis parallel to said one end wall linear path, said mandrel and sleeve thereon being entirely outside of the chamber and accessible in the opened position of said one end wall and being entirely within the chamber in the closed position of said one end wall, and drive means engaged with the shaft means for rotating said mandrel and sleeve thereon when in said chamber, (D) target means formed of the photoconductive material defined as a plurality of arcuate segments defining together a coaxial cylinder slightly larger than said sleeve and means mounting the segments adjacent said sleeve and spaced therefrom across radial gaps of the order of several centimeters and said segments being spaced apart circumferentially of the sleeve and r.f. supply means coupled in matched circuits between said target means, sleeve and vessel to establish a sputtering condition and provide circumferentially spaced plasma belts in the chamber spanning the radial gaps between the target means and the sleeve said sleeve comprising an anode; (E) said mandrel and sleeve thereon being removable from cooperative relationship with said supporting means for said mandrel shaft means when mandrel and sleeve are outside of the chamber to allow for quick mandrel replacement without disturbing the target means in the vessel.