Abstract

The present review of the most recent patents outlines the progress made over the last several years in the search for evaporators of reactive metals. The miniaturization of modern devices using multilayer films brought about a new formulation of the requirements of evaporators of reactive metals (i.e., alkali and alkali-earth metals). One approach to satisfying these new requirements is the use of encapsulated intermetallic evaporators produced by droplet casting. The fusible metal protective film on the surface of the evaporator provides fine control over the process of thermal deposition for typical atomic layer deposition rates. Droplet casting simplified the assembly of the evaporators, which are currently produced by casting the reactive melt into the enclosure of the evaporator. Uniting these two solutions, the fusible protective shell and the automated assembly based on droplet casting, provides the intermetallic evaporators with highly technical characteristics at a low cost, which has been the target of the developments of the last 10-15 years.

Keywords: Cover layer, droplet casting, encapsulation, evaporator, intermetallic vapor sources, reactive metals, thermal deposition.