[labnetwork] Ebeam evaporation - arcing between features

[Youry Borisenkov]

Hi,
What materials is the user trying to deposit?
There is definitely charging happening during ebeam evaporation (my
symptoms were bubbles in PMMA resist).
I would recommend switching to thermal evaporation if possible, or lowering
the power/rate during the deposition. It could also be caused by
contamination in the crucible.
Using magnets around the substrate to deflect electrons from reaching the
substrate also showed good results on a small area samples.

Thank you,
Youry

On Tue, May 21, 2024 at 6:44 PM Geil, Bob <bob.geil at unc.edu> wrote:

> Hello labnetwork,
>
>  I have a user that is fabricating some electrodes and has observed what
> appears to be arcing between the sharp points of the electrodes. Imagine
> features like this:  > < where the distance between them is 2um - 8um. The
> substrate is quartz. Fabrication approach is 1) ebeam lithography 2) ebeam
> evaporation and 3) lift-off.
>
> After EBL development, the electrode circuit is open, as intended
> After evaporation +lift-off, there is a line about few 100nms wide that is
> shorting the electrodes: >-<
> There is not a short between the electrodes with the 8um gap, however,
> there are some metal lines extending from the two sides:  >-  -<
>
> All of this suggests that arcing is occurring.  Has anyone observed this
> before and can you suggest ways to get around it?
>
> Thanks,
>   Bob
>
>
> Bob Geil, PhD
> Technical Director • CHANL
> Dept. of Chemistry • UNC-CH
> Chapel Hill, NC
>
>
>
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