Specific Process Knowledge/Thin film deposition/Deposition of Nickel

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Nickel deposition

Nickel can be deposited by e-beam evaporation or electroplating. In the chart below you can compare the different deposition equipment.


E-beam evaporation (Alcatel) E-beam evaporation (Wordentec) E-beam evaporation (PVD co-sputter/evaporation) Electroplating (Electroplating-Ni)
Batch size
  • Up to 1x4" wafers
  • smaller pieces
  • 24x2" wafers or
  • 6x4" wafers or
  • 6x6" wafers
  • 12x2" wafers or
  • 12x4" wafers or
  • 4x6" wafers
  • 1x2" wafer or
  • 1x4" wafer or
  • 1x6" wafer
Pre-clean RF Ar clean RF Ar clean RF Ar clean None
Layer thickness 10Å to 5000 Å* 10Å to 1 µm* 10Å to 1000 Å A few µm to 1400 µm
Deposition rate 2Å/s to 15Å/s 10Å/s to 15Å/s About 1Å/s About 10 Å/s to 250 Å/s


Allowed materials
  • Silicon
  • Silicon oxide
  • Silicon (oxy)nitride
  • Photoresist
  • PMMA
  • Mylar
  • SU-8
  • Metals
  • Silicon
  • Silicon oxide
  • Silicon nitride
  • Silicon (oxy)nitride
  • Photoresist
  • PMMA
  • Mylar
  • SU-8
  • Silicon
  • Silicon oxide
  • Silicon (oxy)nitride
  • Photoresist
  • PMMA
  • Mylar
  • SU-8
  • Metals
  • NiV (75 - 100 nm recommended)
  • Ti (~5 nm) + Au (75-100 nm recommended)
  • Cr (~5 nm) + Au (75-100 nm recommended)
  • TiW
  • Cr
Comment Thicknesses above 2000 Å requires special permission Only very thin layers (up to 100nm). Sample must be compatible with plating bath. Seed metal necessary. Never use gold directly on silicon.

* To deposit layers thicker then 2000 Å permission is required (contact Thin film group)