Dip coating method having intermediate bead drying step

• Main Authors: PIETRZYKOWSKI, JR.; STANLEY J, PETROPOULOS; MARK C, THOMAS; MARK S, FOX; RONALD E
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 16.09.1997
• Edition: 6
• Subjects: APPARATUS FOR APPLYING LIQUIDS OR OTHER FLUENT MATERIALS TOSURFACES, IN GENERAL; APPLYING LIQUIDS OR OTHER FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICS; SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; TRANSPORTING

A method is disclosed including: (a) dip coating a batch of substrates, each substrate defining an end region, a center region, and a top region, with a first coating solution including a solvent to deposit a first layer on the end region, the center region, and optionally on a part of the top region of each substrate, wherein the first layer includes a wet coating solution bead formed at the end region of each substrate, thereby resulting in a plurality of wet coating solution beads; (b) directing a gas simultaneously at the entire plurality of the wet coating solution beads to remove a portion of the solvent in each bead, wherein the gas fails to disrupt the coating uniformity of the part of the first layer over the center region of each substrate; and (c) dip coating the batch of the substrates subsequent to (b) with a second coating solution to deposit a second layer over the first layer, wherein the portion of the solvent removed from each bead in (b) is sufficient to prevent contamination of the second coating solution by the first layer.