Specific Process Knowledge/Thin film deposition/Deposition of Nickel

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Nickel deposition

Nickel can be deposited by e-beam evaporation or sputtering at DTU Nanolab. For electroplating you will have to contact other institutes at DTU, e.g., DTU Mechanical Engineering.

Some process information is available here for e-beam evaporated films:

In the chart below you can compare the different deposition equipment:

E-beam evaporation (E-beam evaporator (Temescal) and E-beam evaporator (10-pockets)) E-beam evaporation (Wordentec) Sputter deposition (Lesker) Sputter deposition (Sputter-system Metal-Oxide (PC1) and Sputter-system Metal-Nitride (PC3))
General description E-beam deposition of Nickel E-beam deposition of Nickel Sputter deposition of Nickel Sputter deposition of Nickel
Pre-clean Ar ion etch (only in E-beam evaporator Temescal) RF Ar clean RF Ar clean
Layer thickness 10 Å to 1 µm * 10 Å to 1 µm * 10 Å to 5000 Å ** 10 Å to 5000 Å **
Deposition rate 1-10 Å/s 1-10 Å/s Depends on process parameters, about 1 Å/s Depends on process parameters, at least ~ 4 Å/s, see conditions here
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
Allowed materials

Almost any that does not degas. See the cross-contamination sheet.

  • Almost any that do not degas.
  • Almost any that does not degas at your intended substrate temperature. See cross contamination sheets for PC1 and PC3
Comment
  • May use high-strength magnet for deposition.
  • May use high-strength magnet for deposition

* 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.