2025-05-05 to 2025-05-23: Semi-Annual Facility Preventive Maintenance

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.

Status	UP
Issue Date and Description	3/3/2025 Substrate rotation is not functioning
Estimated Fix Date and Comment	3/4/2025 Problem has been resolved
Responding Staff	Dave Lubelski/Dan Witter

. ryo has been regenerated

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iLab Name	C - PVD E-Beam Evaporator - Metal/Magnetic Sources
iLab Kiosk	BRK Evaporation Sputtering Core
FIC	Shared
Owner	Dave Lubelski, Dan Witter
Location	Cleanroom - K Bay
Max. Wafer	4"/100 mm

Current Sources	Cu, Ni, Pd, Py, Al, Ti
Potential Sources	Cu, Ti, Al, Fe, Ni, Co, Sc, Ta, Py, Pd

Overview

General Description

Six Pocket E-Beam Evaporator used for Ferro-magnetic materials

Specifications

High Purity metal evaporator - Materials are limited to Cu, Ti, Al, Fe, Ni, Co, Sc, Ta, Py, PD
Base system pressure 2.0x10-8 torr
Accomodates wafers up to 4" diameter
Atmosphere to deposition in 15 minutes
Gridless Argon sputtering gun for O2 removal
Capable of angled deposition at 30 or 45 degrees

Technology Overview

_{No Organic/Polymers Allowed}

Sample Requirements and Preparation

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

Make sure your sample has been properly baked when using any PR or PMMA before loading into chamber. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL CONTAMINATE THE SYSTEM!!

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

Standard Operating Procedure

Please Note: This instrument is billed per use based on a 2 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 2 hour reservation, you will be billed for 2 uses

Questions & Troubleshooting

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

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