Coating of metal and nitride films can be made by  Reactive DC sputtering.  This was done with an rebuilt in line sputter from CPA.. Some automation were installed by Retel HB. There are many issues that have to be solved in the production of  sputtered films.  Difficulties in balancing the mixture of reactive gases,  pressure and  current controll. A big problem is the target poisoning wich cause unbalansing of the plasma.  The uniformity of the plasma and coating is also important to be able to  use as large area on the palettes as possible to nicrease the production yeld.

 Thermal load of the sputter target can cause  catastrophic falure. This was solved by internal Indium bonding of targets and pressure controll of  the cooling of the targets. last but not least is the damage of the film wich could be caused by arcing on the target, dust from the enviroment and  sputtered content, bad adhersion, contamination. and thin film stress.



Trevor  is changing the reactive sputter gas distribution tubes from inside the sputter chamber. Very thick layer of aluminum is built up from the target when exposed to  the process for a long time.

Sputtering theory a short description how the magnetic fields and plasma interact in the formation of  aluminum coating,

Target bonding a guidline how to bond  the sputter targets on to the copper backing plate. This was done on a regulary basis each time a target was used up.


The plasma glowing inside the vacuum chamber.
DC  targets are behind the shadow plates on top.


A view of the sputter target in action. The magnectic
 field is bending the plasma as a thorus

A short filmsequence wich  show the sputter targen in action. The transportation chains can be viewed. appr 10Mbyte.
In the beginning of the movie the plasma is  shown, and a palette loaded with glass is arriving  into the deposition area. In the end of the movie a short view of the  PC computer software controlling the palette system,  gas handling and ventilation.


finished aluminum coating,  up to 19 palettes could be placed inside the sputter  and automaticly transported to the deposition area. on these palettes the area were free to place any substrate size. This made it very easy to sputter any size in diferent combinations. After the coating vas ready the systemwas ventilated with nitrogen and the palettes were picked out and placed in  transportation carrier to be moved to the photorestist deposition system.