Specific Process Knowledge/Thin film deposition/Deposition of Chromium

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Chromium deposition

Chromium can be deposited by e-beam evaporation. It should be noted that Chromium does not melt but evaporates directly from the solid phase. Chromium can be sputter deposited aswell. 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) E-beam evaporation (Physimeca) Sputter deposition (Wordentec)
General description E-beam deposition of Chromium E-beam and sputter deposition of Chromium E-beam deposition of Chromium E-beam deposition of Chromium Sputter deposition of Chromium
Pre-clean RF Ar clean RF Ar clean RF Ar clean RF Ar clean
Layer thickness 10Å to 1µm* 10Å to 1µm* 10Å to 1000 Å 10Å to 1000 Å .
Deposition rate 2Å/s to 15Å/s 10Å/s to 15Å/s About 1Å/s 10Å/s Depending on process parameters, see here.
Batch size
  • Up to 1x4" wafers
  • smaller pieces
  • 24x2" wafers or
  • 6x4" wafers or
  • 6x6" wafers
  • 12x2" wafers or
  • 12x4" wafers or
  • 4x6" wafers
  • 1x 2" wafer or
  • 1x 4" wafers or
  • Several smaller pieces
  • 24x2" wafers or
  • 6x4" wafers or
  • 6x6" wafers
Allowed substrates
  • Silicon wafers
  • Quartz wafers
  • Pyrex wafers
  • Silicon wafers
  • Quartz wafers
  • Pyrex wafers
  • Silicon wafers
  • Quartz wafers
  • Pyrex wafers
  • III-V materials
  • Silicon wafers
  • Quartz wafers
  • Pyrex wafers
  • Silicon wafers
  • Quartz wafers
  • Pyrex wafers
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 nitride
  • Silicon (oxy)nitride
  • Photoresist
  • PMMA
  • Mylar
  • SU-8
  • Silicon oxide
  • Silicon (oxy)nitride
  • Photoresist
  • PMMA
  • Mylar
  • Silicon
  • Silicon oxide
  • Silicon nitride
  • Silicon (oxy)nitride
  • Photoresist
  • PMMA
  • Mylar
  • SU-8
Comment Only very thin layers (up to 100nm).

* For thicknesses above 200 nm permission from ThinFilm group is required.

Studies of Cr deposition processes

Uniformity of Cr layers - Uniformity of Cr layers deposited with different methods and settings

Sputtering of Cr in Wordentec- Settings and deposition rates