Specific Process Knowledge/Thin film deposition/Deposition of Silver

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Deposition of Silver

Silver 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.

Sputter deposition of Silver

Thermal deposition of Silver

Thermal deposition of Silver in Wordentec

	E-beam evaporation (Alcatel)	Thermal evaporation (Wordentec)	E-beam evaporation (PVD co-sputter/evaporation)	E-beam evaporation (Physimeca)	Sputter evaporation (PVD co-sputter/evaporation)	Sputter evaporation (Wordentec)	Sputter deposition (Lesker)
General description	E-beam deposition of Ag	Thermal deposition of Ag	E-beam deposition of Ag	E-beam deposition of Ag	Sputter deposition of Ag	Sputter deposition of Ag	Sputter deposition of Ag
Pre-clean	RF Ar clean	RF Ar clean	RF Ar clean		RF Ar clean	RF Ar clean	RF Ar clean
Layer thickness	10Å to 1µm*	10Å to 0.5µm (0.5µm not on all wafers)	10Å to 1000Å	10Å to 2000Å	10Å to about 5000Å	10Å to about 3000Å	10Å to about 1000Å
Deposition rate	2Å/s to 15Å/s	1Å/s to 10 Å/s	About 1Å/s	1 to 10Å/s	Dependent on process parameters.	Depending on process parameters (also written in the logbook).	Dependent on process parameters.
Batch size	Up to 1x4" wafers smaller pieces	6x6" wafers or 6x4" wafers or 24x2" wafers	4x6" wafers or 12x4" wafers or 12x2" wafers	4x6" wafers or 12x4" wafers or 12x2" wafers	1x 2" wafer or 1x 4" wafers or Several smaller pieces	6x6" wafers or 6x4" wafers or 24x2" wafers	1x6" wafers or 1x4" wafers or smaller pieces
Allowed materials	Silicon Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals	Silicon Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals	Silicon Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals	III-V materials Silicon wafers Quartz wafers Pyrex wafers	Silicon Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals	Silicon Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals	Silicon Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals
Comment		Only very thin layers.	Only very thin layers (up to 100nm).

* For thicknesses above 200 nm permission is required.