The
purpose of the sputter deposition system is to deposit a uniform
film of some material onto a substrate. This process is performed
in an evacuated chamber, filled with argon (Ar) at some relatively
low pressure. The sputtering guns are controlled by either a Radio
Frequency (RF) power supply or a DC power supply. There are two
identical guns in the system, located in the bottom rear of the
chamber. The target, or the material to be deposited, is a disk
of pure material mounted on top of one of the sputtering guns. When
the power supply is turned on, a powerful magnetic field causes
excited Ar ions to collide with the target surface, removing atoms
of material. The atom then moves to the substrate where the film
grows. The vacuum is created in the chamber by two pumps used in
series. A mechanical pump brings the chamber to an appropriate starting
pressure, then the cryopump brings the chamber to the appropriate
pressure for the sputtering process. Substrates are placed deposition
side down on the rotating tray in the middle of the chamber above
the guns. There are many devices available for mounting different
sized samples. If the thickness is critical, the in-situ quartz
sensor is used to exactly monitor film thickness. |
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