Infographic: Physical Vapor Deposition

Do we share infographics in blogging? Well I guess I do. One of my responsibilities in the Cleanroom is to the Deposition Bay. This Bay contains all of our Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) equipment. Another responsibility of mine is to slowly build up teaching tools about my equipment and process areas. This includes research slide decks, education posters, infographics, etc…. You never know when you’re going to need to explain some Cleanroom concepts! Below is the full text from the infographic:

Introduction: PVD encompasses multiple types of high vacuum deposition techniques for metal, ceramic, glass, and polymer thin films. During a PVD process the target material moves from a solid phase to a vapor phase, then condenses back to a solid as a thin film. PVD thin films tend to have improved hardness and corrosion resistance. A diverse group of substrates and target materials are available to these methods. However, line-of-sight from target to substrate is required for the deposition to take place.

Applications: PVD thin films are used for a variety of application including electrical contacts, optical thin films, solar cells, and micromechanical devices.

Thermal Evaporation: Thermal evaporation utilizes resistive heating, where small amounts of metal is evaporated onto substrates at rates of about 0.25 Å per second, with deposition controlled by a shutter. In our Nano38 Thermal Evaporator, Au and Cr are the available materials. This can be used to create Cr masks or Au contacts.

Sputtering: Sputtering is deposition that involves a gaseous plasma which is generated at the target. The surface of the target is eroded by high-energy ions within the plasma, and the freed atoms deposit onto a substrate to form a thin film. Our KJL CMS-18 is a magnetron sputtering system used to deposit Ta and Nb. The tool is capable of UHV and is equipped with a heated rotation stage and load lock.

E-beam Evaporation: E-beam evaporation uses accelerated electrons discharged by a tungsten filament to bombard a target material, which evaporates and condenses on a substrate. Our Denton Infinity 22 is a multipurpose tool for over 15 materials and capable of high vacuum. Our PVD Products tool is reserved for Ti, Nb, Al, Au, Pt, and Cu. It is capable of UHV and is equipped with a load lock for fast loading/unloading.

Ion-assisted Processes: A plasma-ion source produces and controls ion species with a specific energy, chemical reactivity, current density, and trajectory. Our KRi Gridless eH source (on the PVD) is capable of both Ion Beam Assisted Deposition and in-situ precleaning using oxygen and argon.