1. What is sputtering deposition?

Sputter deposition is a method of depositing thin films by sputtering material from a “target”. Sputtering is a term used to describe the mechanism in which atoms are ejected from the surface of a material when that surface is stuck by sufficiency energetic ions generated by low-pressure gas plasma, usually an argon plasma. The sputtering takes place at a much lower temperature than evaporation. Sputtered atoms ejected into the gas phase in vapor form are not in their thermodynamic equilibrium state and tend to condense on all surfaces in the vacuum chamber including the substrate.

2. Why are thin films important?

There are many useful applications for thin films. We desire to produce properties in a material that are often conflicting in nature if we use one homogeneous material. Semiconductor devices, for example, are fabricated on a thin layer deposited on a semiconductor substrate. The integrated electronic circuits depend on the confinement of electrical charges, which relies on the interfaces between different materials with different electronic properties. There are also many occasions when the properties demanded an engineering application involve features that are different for the surface than that are for the bulk. Depositing metal films and patterning them on the surface are relatively easy to secure electrical connection between semiconductor devices.

3.How does a sputtering system work?

Generally, in sputtering systems ions are generated and directed at a target, then ions sputter targets atoms. The ejected atoms are transported to the substrate and atoms condense and form a thin film. Below image shows the simple schematic of a sputtering system.

Pulsed Laser Deposition/Thermal Evaporation System-PLD-T

Versatile Pulsed Laser Deposition and Thermal Evaporator System – PLD-T is a high vacuum thin film deposition system enables to deposit different materials by both Pulsed Laser Deposition and Thermal Evaporation technique (Not simultaneously). It can deposit complex materials and crystalline structures onto substrates with very little setup involved.

Pulsed Laser Deposition technique leads to efficient, none-thermal ablation and preserves the stoichiometry of the target materials. By applying this method, it could deposit materials such as nitrides, oxides, super lattices, polymers, and composites. PLD-T with triple thermal sources can also deposit thin films through thermal evaporation.

PLD-T physical vapor deposition system is a multi-technique precise thin film coating device that enables the user to perform state of the art research projects in various fields like optics, electronics, solar cell fabrication, etc.

Features

Hardware

High vacuum level with a built-in turbo pump
Two-stage rotary vane backing pump (Diaphragm or scroll pump)
High-current DC power supply suitable for thermal evaporation of different materials
Quartz crystal monitoring systems for real-time thickness measurement (1 nm precision)
Reactive gas injection control through precision Mass Flow meter (MFC)
Full-range vacuum gauge
Rotatory sample holder with adjustable rotation, height, and tilt (For 3-inch sample holders)
Target manipulator with adjustable rotation speed
3 thermal sources with special feedthroughs
Electronic shutter (For thermal evaporation configuration)
Motorized boat selection

Automation

Intuitive touch screen to control the coating process and rapid data input
User friendly software, updatable via network
Semi-full automatic timed or thickness coating process (Optional)
Deposition parameters adjustable though the touch screen panel (Optional)
Records and plots coating parameters graphs

Optional Facilities

500 °C programmable substrate heater with software control

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Target Manipulator

PLD deposition system is equipped with a multi-target manipulator which includes three 2 cm Dia. target. Targets are in standard size and all of our target manipulators are motorized, so as to enable automatic target selection and target rotation during the deposition process.

Thermal Evaporation

The Pulsed Laser Deposition System can be fitted with three independent heat resistance thermal evaporation sources. Different types of thermal evaporation sources (Boat, basket, and coil) can be installed on the thermal source holders for controlled thermal evaporation of a wide range of materials onto the substrate. The high-current power supply and low-voltage (Resistive) thermal evaporation platform are suitable for a wide variety of thermal evaporation applications. The thermal evaporation configuration is equipped with water-cooled feedthroughs accompanied by temperature sensor.

Thermal Source Holders

The PLD-T can be fitted with three independent heat resistance thermal evaporation sources. The good design of the evaporation source holders causes no contamination transfer from a source material to the other ones. The length of source holders can be adjusted in the range of 5~10 cm to meet the user requirements.

NSC Product PLD-T Inside Grey Big Border

Clean Vacuum

The PLD-T is designed with a 300 mm OD and 200 mm H, SST vacuum chamber. The PLD-T is fitted with an internally mounted turbo molecular pump, backed by a 6 m³/h two-stage rotary vane pump (Optional). It introduces a clean vacuum without oil contamination which normally exists with an ordinary diffusion pump.

Touch Screen Control

PLD-T is equipped with a 7” colored touch-screen panel using user-friendly software to control and adjust the deposition process data. The vacuum and coating sequence information can be observed as digital data or curves on the touch screen and the last 300 coatings are saved on the history page.

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