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 (Temescal)	E-beam evaporation (Wordentec)	E-beam evaporation (Physimeca)	Sputter deposition (Lesker)	Electroplating (Electroplating-Ni)
General description	E-beam deposition of Nickel	E-beam deposition of Nickel	E-beam deposition of Nickel	Sputter deposition of Nickel	Electroplating of Nickel
Pre-clean	Ar ion bombardment	RF Ar clean		RF Ar clean	None
Layer thickness	10Å to 1 µm*	10Å to 1 µm*	10Å to 2000 Å	10Å to 2000 Å	A few µm to ~1000 µm
Deposition rate	2Å/s to 10Å/s	10Å/s to 15Å/s	1 to 10Å/s	Depends on process parameters. About 1 Å/s	About 10 Å/s to 250 Å/s
Batch size	Up to 4x6" wafers Up to 3x8" wafers (ask for holder) Many smaller pieces	24x2" wafers or 6x4" wafers or 6x6" wafers	1x 2" wafer or 1x 4" wafers or Several smaller pieces	Pieces or 1x4" wafer or 1x6" wafer	1x2" wafer 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	Silicon Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals	Silicon Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist Metals	Base materials: Silicon Polymers with Tg > 75°C Metals (bulk) Cross-linked or hard baked resists supported by one of the above mentioned materials Seed 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	Stress in Wordentec Ni films: study here. Thicknesses above 2000 Å requires special permission			Sample must be compatible with plating bath (pH = 3,65 and T = 52°C). Seed metal necessary.

* To deposit layers thicker than 600 nanometers permission is required from metal@danchip.dtu.dk to ensure enough material is present in the machine