Specific Process Knowledge/Thin film deposition/Deposition of Aluminium

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Deposition of Aluminium

Aluminium can be deposited by e-beam evaporation, by sputtering and by thermal evaporation. In the chart below you can compare the different methods on the different deposition equipment.

Sputtering of Aluminium

Aluminium may be sputter deposited in either the Wordentec, the sputter-system (Lesker), or the cluster-based sputter system ("Sputter-System Metal-Oxide(PC1)" and "Sputter-System Metal-Nitride(PC3)"). See more in the matrix below.

• Sputtering of Aluminium in the Wordentec

• Al sputtering in Sputter System (Lesker)

• Al Sputtering in Sputter-System Metal-Nitride(PC3)

E-beam evaporation of Aluminium

Aluminium can be deposited by e-beam assisted evaporation in the Wordentec, Physimeca and Temescal tools.

• E-beam evaporation of Al in Temescal

• Notes on low oxygen content in e-beam prepared Al thin films (Temescal)

Thermal deposition of Aluminium

In the Wordentec and the Thermal evaporator aluminium can be deposited by thermal deposition. The two instruments are compared on the following page:

• Thermal deposition of Aluminium

Comparison of Al deposition options

	E-beam evaporation (E-beam evaporator Temescal and E-beam evaporator (10-pockets))	E-beam evaporation (Wordentec)	Sputter deposition (Wordentec)	Sputter deposition (Sputter-System (Lesker))	Sputter deposition (Sputter-system Metal-Oxide (PC1) and Sputter-system Metal-Nitride (PC3))	Thermal evaporation (Wordentec)	Thermal evaporation (Thermal Evaporator)
General description	E-beam deposition of Aluminium	E-beam deposition of Aluminium	Sputter deposition of Aluminium	Sputter deposition of Aluminium	Sputter deposition of Aluminium	Aluminum deposition onto unexposed e-beam resist	Aluminum deposition onto unexposed e-beam resist
Pre-clean	Ar ion etch (only in E-beam evaporator Temescal)			RF Ar clean	RF Ar clean
Layer thickness	10Å to 1 µm*	10Å to 1 µm*	10Å to ~0.5µm	10Å to ~0.5µm (very time consuming )	10Å to ~0.5µm	10Å to 0.12 µm	10Å to 1 µm*
Deposition rate	1Å/s to 10Å/s	1Å/s to 15Å/s	Depending on process parameters, up to ~2.5 Å/s	Depending on process parameters at least up to 0.7 Å/s	Depending on process parameters at least up to 1.3 Å/s. See conditions here	~1.5 Å/s to 2 Å/s	0.5, 1, or 2 Å/s
Batch size	Up to 4x6" or 3x8" wafers smaller pieces	24x2" wafers or 6x4" wafers or 6x6" wafers	24x2" wafers or 6x4" wafers or 6x6" wafers	1x4" wafer or 1x6" wafer or several small samples	up to 10x4" wafers or up to 10x6" wafers or many smaller samples	24x2" wafers or 6x4" wafers or 6x6" wafers	Up to 3 x 4" wafers or one 6" or 8" wafer (limited uniformity on large substrates) Many small chips
Pumping time from wafer load	Approx. 20 min	Approx. 1.5 hour	Approx. 1.5 hour	Approx. 10 min	Approx. 5 min plus 6 min transfer time	Approx. 1.5 hour	Approx. 15 min
Allowed substrates	Almost any that will not outgas. See the cross-contamination sheet.	Silicon wafers Quartz wafers Pyrex wafers	Silicon wafers Quartz wafers Pyrex wafers	Silicon wafers and almost any	Silicon wafers And almost any that does not degas. Special carrier for III-V materials.	Silicon wafers Quartz wafers Pyrex wafers	Almost any that does not outgas. Ask if in doubt or see the cross-contamination sheet.
Allowed materials	Almost any as long as it does not outgas and no fragile structures risk dropping off into the machine. See the cross-contamination sheet.	Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals	Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals	Almost any - see cross contamination sheet	Almost any - see cross contamination sheets for PC1 and PC3	Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals	Almost any that does not outgas and will not drop fragile structures into the machine.
Comment	* Thickness above 600 nm: ask for permission It is possible to tilt the substrate.	* Thickness above 600 nm: ask for permission.				**Thickness above 120 nm: ask for permission

* For cumulative deposition above 600 nm please write to metal@nanolab.dtu.dk to make sure there will be enough Al for your deposition

Aluminium deposition on ZEP520A for lift-off - comparison of thermal and e-beam evaporation

This is a small study of which aluminium deposition that is best for aluminium lift-off on ZEP520A resist and a very thin layer of aluminium (~20nm). The grain size is compared for the different methods.

The conclusion was that e-beam evaporation of aluminium at 15 Å/s gave the best result.

See details of the study here.

Aluminium deposition on AZ5214 for lift-off

Negative photolithography process is recomended.

Positive photolithography process from 1,5 µm is possible especially for thin layers of metal.

The more pattern the easyer lift.

It was tried (jan09) to lift 2.5 µm Al on 4.2µ negative resist on top of 11 µm Apox SiO2 in an acetone sonic-bath. The Al deposition process was done in steps evaporating 500 nm a time with 5 min pause and pressure down to at least 2E-6.

Roughness of thermally evaporated aluminium

A study by AFM was performed to examine Al films deposited with thermal evaporation in the Wordentec. See details here.