Title: Method and equipment for forming microstructure on polymer substrate
Application Number: 02816725 Application Date: 2002.06.26
Publication Number: 1547523 Publication Date: 2004.11.17
Approval Pub. Date: Granted Pub. Date:
International Classifi-cation: B01B1/00,B29C35/10,B29C59/04,B29C59/16
Applicant(s) Name: Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. Address:
Inventor(s) Name: Hennessey M., Strand D.
Attorney & Agent: cai minjun
Abstract:
     Methods and apparatus for forming microstructures (126) in the surface of polymeric web materials (12) for use as optical memory substrates, such as disks. The microstructures (126) may be formed by temporarily laminating a web material (12) to a hot stamper (16) into a nip zone (16) formed between the hot stamper (14), a pressure roller (20) and backing roller (22).The stamper (14) may be heated by any suitable heating device (18) to melt flow the surface of the web (12) and stabilize before separation. The stamper (14) may be carried through the nip zone (16) by a support (28) including a carriage (114), having hoops (118, 128) and a plurality of rollers (30, 32, 34), that is independent of the press formed by the pressure roller (20) and the backing roller (22). The pressure roller (20) and backing roller (22) are rotatively driven by drives (24, 26), respectively.
Time: 64