Sputtering system with loading chamber
The thermal deposition chamber is built to UHV standards and designed to hold up to four thermal evaporators with a vacuum window, allowing for material addition during evaporation. The thickness of the deposited layers can be monitored using a quartz crystal microbalance.
The system uses a rotating table that continuously rotates the sample holder during evaporation to ensure homogeneity in the deposited layers. This table also allows heating of the sample and maintaining a stable temperature between room temperature and 400ºC. Moreover, the sample heating and rotation station has a sample shield. The sample holder can accommodate samples up to 50×50 mm, although multiple smaller samples can also be mounted. AFM probes-dedicated holders are also available.
The sample holder, with the mounted samples, is transferred from the loading chamber to the thermal deposition chamber using a linear transfer mechanism, ensuring that the vacuum in the deposition chamber remains stable during the transfer process. Once the holder is placed in the loading chamber, the chamber is ready to be pumped to the required vacuum level, and then the valve separating the loading chamber from the deposition chamber is opened.
It is possible to expand the system with a sample holder storage chamber that can store up to five sample holders under vacuum conditions.
The most significant device features:
- The thermal deposition chamber is built to UHV standards
- The chamber allows the mounting of up to four thermal evaporators
- A vacuum window enables the addition of material to the evaporators
- The loading chamber is used for introducing samples under atmospheric pressure
- A linear transfer is used to transport samples from the loading chamber to the thermal deposition chamber
- The thickness of the layers is controlled using a quartz crystal microbalance
- The system allows sample heating up to 400ºC.
- The sample mounting station provides continuous rotation during the deposition process
- The pressure in the thermal chamber, below 10-6 mbar, is achieved after venting the chamber with dry air or nitrogen within 2 hours using a turbomolecular pump with a pumping speed of no less than 200 l/s. The base pressure after heating the chamber to 150ºC for 48 hours is <10-9 mbar.
- The loading chamber can be pumped using a dry pump to a vacuum below 10-1 mbar or by using a pumping station with a turbomolecular pump.
Specification:
| Source of applied material | Up to four thermal evaporators |
| Working temperature of evaporators | up to 1600ºC |
| Crucible volume | 5 cm3 |
| Layer thickness control | quartz scale |
| Sample temperature | from room temperature to 400°C |
| Time to obtain vacuum |
10ˉ⁶ mbar within 2 hours of chamber aeration |
| Pump system |
turbomolecular with pumping speed >200 l/s dry fore pump with a pumping speed of not less than 5 m³/h |
See also other thin-layer deposition systems:
Compact sputtering system LPNW01 for thermal deposition of thin layers
PVDS 700 Coating deposition system for layer deposition with the PVD technique
Magnetron system for coating deposition MCS 787 equipped with up to four magnetron sources.
Compact sputtering system for surface metallization with the possibility of thermal and magnetron deposition of layers
