[labnetwork] Sputter Oxides & Metals in Same System?

[Jim McVittie]

Hi,

We have an AJA sputtering system with 5 confocal sputter guns and a single 
wafer holder in the center. The system is configured for sputtering up. We 
have no problem doing metals and dielectrics in the same system. The 
chimneys on the guns capture most of the stay deposition. In addition, we 
line the chamber walls with Al foil.  We clean the chimneys by bead 
blasting during the weekly target change if they show flaking, and we 
change out the foil if it shows flaking.  We do rf reactive sputtering, rf 
sputtering from dielectric targets and DC metal sputtering in the system. 
We have been doing this for 4 yrs with few problems.  Once in a while we 
have to open the system up mid-week to bead blast a chimney, which has 
started flaking.     

	Jim McVittie
--------------------------------------------------------------
James (Jim) P. McVittie, Ph.D.          Sr. Research Scientist
Paul G. Allen Building                  Electrical Engineering
Stanford Nanofabrication Facility       jmcvittie at stanford.edu
Stanford University                     Office: (650) 725-3640
Rm. 336X, 330 Serra Mall                Lab: (650) 721-6834   
Stanford, CA 94305-4075                 Fax: (650) 723-4659

On Thu, 14 Jan 2010, Philip Kubik wrote:

> We have a sputtering & evaporation system with 2 RF & 2 DC cathodes. To
> date, we have only sputtered metals but we are considering sputtering oxides
> as well. I wonder whether others think this is a good idea or not and what,
> if any, chamber cleaning and conditions procedures are used when switching
> between oxides & metals. Specifically, the metals currently used in the
> system are nickel, titanium, chromium, aluminum, & gold. The oxides that we
> are considering are SiO2, TiO2, ZnO, Al2O3, & ITO.
> 
> I have heard that is not a good idea to sputter metals and oxides in the
> same system but I don't know the reasons for this. Also, I know that some
> labs have metals only & oxides only sputtering systems, whereas others have
> a sputtering system for both metals & oxides. My own experience is with a
> system in which SiO2, niobium, aluminum, & molybdenum were deposited. When
> metals were sputtered after SiO2 sputtering, there was a lot of arcing in
> the deposition chamber, which damaged the devices being fabricated on
> silicon wafers. Consequently, after oxide sputtering, the chamber was
> conditioned by oxygen glow discharge cleaning and a lengthy metal deposition
> until the arcing ceased.
> 
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Philip Kubik
> 
> Philip Kubik, Ph.D.
> Cleanroom Engineer
> 4D Labs, Simon Fraser University
> 8888 University Dr.
> Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6
> Office phone: 778-782-8026
> 
> Email:  <mailto:Philip.Kubik at 4DLabs.ca> Kubik at 4DLabs.ca