Specific Process Knowledge/Thin film deposition/Deposition of Nickel

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Nickel deposition

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


E-beam evaporation (Temescal) E-beam evaporation (Wordentec) Sputter deposition (Lesker) Sputter deposition (Sputter-system Metal-Oxide (PC1) and Sputter-system Metal-Nitride (PC3)) Electroplating (Electroplating-Ni)
General description E-beam deposition of Nickel E-beam deposition of Nickel Sputter deposition of Nickel Sputter deposition of Nickel Electroplating of Nickel
Pre-clean Ar ion bombardment RF Ar clean RF Ar clean None
Layer thickness 10 Å to 1 µm * 10 Å to 1 µm * 10 Å to 5000 Å ** 10 Å to 5000 Å ** ~ 20 µm to ~ 1000 µm
Deposition rate 2-10 Å/s 10-15 Å/s Depends on process parameters, about 1 Å/s Depends on process parameters, at least ~ 4 Å/s, see conditions here ~ 10-250 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
  • Pieces or
  • 1x4" wafer or
  • 1x6" wafer
  • Up to 10x4" or 6" wafers
  • Many smaller pieces
  • 1x2" wafer or
  • 1x4" wafer or
  • 1x6" wafer
Allowed materials
  • Silicon
  • Silicon oxide
  • Silicon nitride
  • Silicon (oxy)nitride
  • Photoresist
  • PMMA
  • Mylar
  • SU-8
  • Almost any that do not outgas.
  • Almost any that do not outgas. Check the cross-contamination sheet in Labmanager.

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
  • May use high-strength magnet for deposition.
  • May use high-strength magnet for deposition
  • Sample must be compatible with plating bath (pH = 3,65 and T = 52°C). Seed metal necessary.

* To deposit a cumulative thickness above 600 nm permission is required from metal@nanolab.dtu.dk to ensure enough material is present in the machine


** To deposit a cumulative thickness above 200 nm permission is required from metal@nanolab.dtu.dk to ensure enough material is present in the machine

Quality control of e-beam evaporated Ni films

Quality control (QC) for Wordentec
QC Recipe: Process 5
Deposition rate 10 Å/s
Thickness 100 nm
Pressure Below 4*10-6 mbar
QC limits Wordentec
Measured average thickness (Å) ± 10 %
Lowest accepted deposition rate (Å/s) 6 Å/s

Thickness is measured in 5 points with a stylus profiler.


Quality control (QC) for the Temescal
QC Recipe: Standard recipes/Ni
Deposition rate 10 Å/s
Thickness 100 nm
Pressure Below 1*10-6 mbar
QC limits Temescal
Deposition rate deviation ± 20 %
Measured average thickness ± 10 %
Thickness deviation across a 4" wafer ± 5 %

Thickness is measured in 5 points with a stylus profiler.
Additionally we examine the newly deposited films for particles using the particle scanner (if available, otherwise we use the Jenatech microscope in darkfield mode) and we monitor the sheet resistance of the Ti/Au films.