Specific Process Knowledge/Thin film deposition/Deposition of Tantalum

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Tantalum deposition

Tantalum can be deposited by e-beam evaporation and sputter deposition. In the chart below you can compare the different deposition equipment.

	E-beam evaporation (Temescal)	Sputter (Lesker)
General description	E-beam deposition of Ta (line-of-sight deposition)	Sputter deposition of Ta (not line-of-sight)
Pre-clean	Ar ion source	RF Ar clean
Layer thickness	10Å to 0.2 µm*	10Å to ?
Deposition rate	0.5Å/s to 10Å/s	~0.3Å/s
Batch size	Up to 4x6" wafers Up to 3x8" wafers (ask for holder) Many smaller pieces	Pieces or 1x4" wafer or 1x6" wafer
Allowed materials	Silicon Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar Metals See also the cross-contamination sheet	Silicon Silicon oxide Silicon nitride Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals Carbon
Comment	Tantalum deposition heats the chamber*

* The max thickness is limited to 200 nm as Ta deposition heats the chamber. If you wish to deposit more than that, it has to be done in several steps. The temperature on the back of a Si wafer rose to above 160 °C during deposition of 40 nm Ta even when using a cooling plate. If you wish to e-beam deposit Ta, please contact the [Thin film group].