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

• Sputter deposition of Silver in Wordentec.

Thermal deposition of Silver

• Thermal deposition of Silver in Wordentec

• Thermal deposition of Silver in the Thermal Evaporator

Comparison of deposition equipment for silver

	E-beam evaporation (Temescal)	Thermal evaporation (Thermal Evaporator)	Thermal evaporation (Wordentec)	E-beam evaporation (Physimeca)	Sputter deposition (Wordentec)	Sputter deposition (Lesker)	Sputter deposition (Sputter-system Metal-Oxide (PC1) and Sputter-system Metal-Nitride (PC3))
General description	E-beam deposition of Ag	Thermal deposition of Ag	Thermal deposition of Ag	E-beam deposition of Ag	Sputter deposition of Ag	Sputter deposition of Ag	Sputter deposition of Ag including pulsed DC and HiPIMS
Pre-clean	Ar ion beam bombardment	none	RF Ar clean	none	RF Ar clean	RF Ar clean	RF Ar clean
Layer thickness	10Å to 1µm*	10Å to 0.5µm **	10Å to 0.5µm **(0.5µm not on all wafers)	10Å to 2000Å	10Å to about 3000Å	10Å to about 2000Å	10Å to ?
Deposition rate	1 to 10Å/s	5Å/s	1 to 10Å/s	1 to 10Å/s	Depending on process parameters (also written in the logbook).	Dependent on process parameters.	Dependent on process parameters.
Batch size	Up to 4x6" wafers or Up to 3x8" wafers *** or smaller pieces	Up to 1x8" wafers smaller pieces very bad uniformity above 4" wafers	6x6" wafers or 6x4" wafers or 24x2" wafers	4x6" wafers or 12x4" wafers or 12x2" wafers	6x6" wafers or 6x4" wafers or 24x2" wafers	1x6" wafers or 1x4" wafers or smaller pieces	up to 10x6" wafers or up to 10x4" wafers or many 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	Almost any as long as it does not outgas if you plan to use substrate heating. See cross-contamination sheets in Labmanager.
Comment	Pumpdown approx 20 min. Possible to tilt the wafer.	Pumpdown approx 15 min.	Only very thin layers. Pumpdown approx 1 hour.				Load and transfer approx. 12 minutes

* For thicknesses above 600 nm please get permission from ThinFilm group by writing to metal@danchip.dtu.dk

** For thicknesses above 200 nm please get permission from ThinFilm group by writing to metal@danchip.dtu.dk

*** Please ask responsible staff for 8" wafer holder