[labnetwork] Contamination control in PVD systems

[Mark Walters, Ph.D.]

Related to this topic - does anyone in this group have systems or experience with depositing chalcogenide films (containing Te, Se, S, Sn, etc) and flourides (e.g., MgF2)?  These are the types of materials we won't allow in our current systems, but given the high level of interest from several groups at Duke University, we are thinking about acquiring an RF sputter system dedicated for these films.  I'm aware that we'll need to consider special pump packages and possibly chamber materials, but any experience from this group would be helpful.  We're also wondering if it's even possible to combine all these "nasty" materials in one system, or will they just tend to contaminate each other and we end up with poor films.

As far as our current systems go, at the Duke University SMIF we keep a list of allowable materials for each of our evaporators and sputter systems.   If a user wants to deposit a material that is not on the list, they submit a "New Material Request" form, and this is reviewed by myself and the "major" faculty users of the systems.  In general, we dedicate one e-beam evaporator for metals approved for semiconductor processing (plus gold), and a second e-beam/thermal evaporator for these types of metals, plus a few oxides, and "odd" requests that we're comfortable won't mess up our system.  Our DC sputter system is dedicated for approved metals, and our RF sputter system is dedicated for approved dielectrics.

Thanks,
Mark D. Walters, Ph.D.
Director, Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility (SMIF)
Duke University
Box 90271
Durham, NC 27708-0271
http://smif.lab.duke.edu
Phone: (919) 660-5486
Fax: (919) 660-5491


-----Original Message-----
From: labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu [mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu] On Behalf Of Fouad Karouta
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2015 6:48 PM
To: Carsen Kline; labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Contamination control in PVD systems

Dear Carsen,

Here at the Australian National University, Canberra, we do have an open access e-beam evaporator reserved for metals and we started with: Au, Pt, Ni, Ti, Ge, Al, Cr and later we added Pd, Mo, Hf and Nb.
So far we haven't heard from our users any negative feedback about deterioration/contamination of contacts.
We do not allow oxides nor metals like Zn, Cu, Te, Sn etc. where we believe these metals have a more serious contamination risk. In our facility we do have a sputter system w/o materials restriction and it is used for metals to oxides, nitrides offering more than 50 materials/targets. We do know from users that some contamination is found at level clearly below 1%.

Hope this helps a bit and I am curious to learn from others their experience.

Cheers,
Fouad Karouta

*********************************
Manager ANFF ACT Node
Australian National Fabrication Facility Research School of Physics and Engineering Australian National University ACT 0200, Canberra, Australia
Tel: + 61 2 6125 7174
Mob: + 61 451 046 412
Email: fouad.karouta at anu.edu.au
http://anff-act.anu.edu.au/

-----Original Message-----
From: labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu [mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu] On Behalf Of Carsen Kline
Sent: Sunday, 1 February 2015 5:02 AM
To: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
Subject: [labnetwork] Contamination control in PVD systems

Hello all,

We're looking to expand our PVD capabilities and we're curious to know how other labs control contamination as it relates to safety, process, and equipment condition. Can anyone share your general philosophy or policies on approaching contamination control in PVD systems? (For example, categorizing systems based on allowed contaminants, or having multiple levels of controlled access to specific tools, etc.)

Thanks for your input, I'm looking forward to your responses.

Carsen




Carsen Kline
Stanford Nanofabrication Facility
http://snf.stanford.edu
carsen at stanford.edu


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