Leybold E-Beam Evaporator

Owned by Wirth, Justin C
Last updated: Apr 17, 2024 by Witter, Daniel Joseph

2024-12-20 to 2025-01-02: Reduced Holiday Operations

Dear Birck Research Community,

The Purdue winter recess begins effective Friday afternoon December 20th and concludes Thursday morning, January 2. The university is officially closed during this time. As we have done in past years, the Birck Nanotechnology Center will remain available for research but will be unstaffed and hazardous gasses will be unavailable. Lab work may otherwise proceed, though any fume hood work must be done with someone else present in the same laboratory or cleanroom bay (the "buddy" system). Click the link above to get more detail about equipment conditions and rules.


Refer to the Material and Process Compatibility page for information on materials compatible with this tool.
Equipment Status: Set as UP, PROBLEM, or DOWN, and report the issue date (MM/DD) and a brief description. Italicized fields will be filled in by BNC Staff in response to issues. See Problem Reporting Guide for more info.

DownDown
Issue Date and Description

Tool is to be decommissioned and spare parts removed for use elsewhere

Estimated Fix Date and CommentN/A
Responding StaffDave Lubelski/Dan Witter

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iLab NameC - Leybold E-Beam Evaporator
iLab KioskBRK Evaporation Sputtering Core
FICShared
OwnerDave Lubelski
LocationCleanroom - K Bay
Max. Wafer4"/100 mm


Current Sources
Potential SourcesTi, Fe, Ni, Al, Ag, Al2O3, SiO2, Cr, Py, Cu, Au, Co, Si, Mn, Ta2O5, Ge, Ni/Cr, Pt, TiO2, Er

Overview

General Description

  • E-beam evaporates materials with a 6 pocket hearth
  • Pockets hold 15cc pocket volume with 8.2cc liner volume
  • Substrate fixture can hold two 4" wafer with adapters for a 3" wafer, 2" wafer, and fragments of wafers
  • Telemark controller
  • Deposition rates from 0.2 - 8.0 Angstroms/sec

Source Materials

 Source Materials: Ti, Fe, Ni, Al, Ag, Al2O3, SiO2, Cr, Py, Cu, Au, Co, Si, Mn, Ta2O5, Ge, Ni/Cr, Pt, TiO2, Er

Technology Overview 


Sample Requirements and Preparation

Make sure your sample has been properly baked when using any PR or PMMA.

Substrates must be solvent cleaned in the standard 3 step Toluene, Acetone, and IPA solvent clean.

Samples must be cleaned in accordance to processing needs. NO FLEXIBLE SUBSTRATES OF ANY KIND ARE ALLOWED IN THIS TOOL 

 

Any AL2O3 or SiO2 with a thickness over 300 nanometers in one deposition must be done During business hours (7am-5pm) Monday through Friday. The source must be checked by staff Before Proceeding.

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Standard Operating Procedure

Please Note: This instrument is billed per  use  based on a 5 hour block

Example : 1  user only uses the tool  per use.  When you vent the system and unload your sample that concludes your reservation .  

Example: If the usage is 10+ minutes past the initial 5 hour reservation, you will be billed for 2 uses

MAXIMUM ALLOWED  AL2O3 and SiO2 thickness is 300 nanometers per deposition 

Questions & Troubleshooting

 Why does pump down take so long?

Answer: Due to the  the size of the chamber and the use of so many different types of  materials that coat the  system componets it takes longer for the vacuum system to pump all of the out-gassing produced by w wide variety of source materials used in this system 

 What is the optimum deposition for SiO2 and other oxides?

   We have found the best film quality is obtained at at rates between 1 and 1.5 angstroms per second.

 I had a problem with the way the last aluminum samples turned out. It looked like there were almost pin holes or something in the aluminum layer. I am not sure if you know what may have been wrong but I can show you the samples and maybe you have an idea of what caused it. 

 

The pinholes are most likely caused by contaminates on the substrate , below are some more comments

Dr A. Kumar

Harcourt Butler Technological Institute

 Dear Dr. Sivagami

Deposit the film at higher vacuum than what you are using at present. For good adhesion, Degass the substrates before deposition. Make slightly thicker films. Anneal them after evaporation in vacuum at higher temperatures for getting rid of voids. See if you are able to solve the problem. Substrate cleaning can also be improved for better uniformity. Good luck.

Dr A. Kumar

Harcourt Butler Technological Institute

If substrates are glass plates, degassing is done by putting a heater inside the coating unit over the substrates and heat them up to 200 degree centigrade for about two hours in vacuum. The gasses absorbed comes out in this process. Switch off the heater to cool down to room temperature. Thereafter, deposit the film without exposing them to air.

Pradip Kumar Dey

Added an answer

pinholes are mainly created due to any foreign material already present in the substrate and they tries to come out through the deposited films during deposition.  Clean your substrate thoroughly in piranha solution (1:1 ratio of H2O2 and H2SO4 for 20 min. ** you can search in net for details) . Thereafter rinse in DI water and preheat in oven @ 150 deg. Cent. for at least 30 min and then place in thermal chamber for deposition. Also you should heat your substrate up to 150 deg. cent. just before deposition. For better film quality high vacuum is essenti

Reed Schmell

Independent Researcher

Pinholes are either caused by surface contamination remaining on the "cleaned" surface. Use the water break test to determine if the surface is residue free. You will see interference fringes as it dries. The fringes will be even as the water evaporates. Any island fringes or streaks means the surface is not clean. Any of these particles actually become nucleation sites as the coating is deposited


Process Library

References