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Sputter deposition of metals and alloys

Many metals and some alloys are well suited for sputter deposition. Below you can compare the sputter systems available here at Nanolab for depositing them.

This page is a collective page for metals and alloys that we do not deposit by any other methods. Other metals that may be deposited both by sputtering and other methods are described on their own individual metal pages (see the thin film main page).

Metals which have been sputter deposited here at Nanolab and which cannot be deposited here by e-beam or thermal evaporation include:

Cobalt
Iron

Alloys which may be sputter deposited here at Nanolab include:

Al-Cu
Co-Fe
Cu-Ti
Fe-Mn
Mn-Ir (deposited several times with the Sputter-System (Lesker), see process log)
Nb-Ti (deposited several times with the Sputter-System (Lesker), see process log)
Ni-Co
Ni-Fe (deposited several times with the Sputter-System (Lesker), see process log)
Ni-V (extensively deposited with the Sputter-System (Lesker), see process log, and with the Wordentec, see process log)
Ti-W alloy (10%/90% by weight) (extensively deposited with the Sputter-System (Lesker), see process log, and with the Wordentec, see process log)

Comparison of sputter deposition options

	Sputter deposition (Wordentec)	Sputter deposition (Sputter-System (Lesker))	Sputter deposition (Sputter-system Metal-Oxide (PC1))	Sputter deposition (Sputter-system Metal-Nitride (PC3))
General description	Sputter deposition in chamber which also has thermal and e-beam evaporation. Single 6" sputter target directly below substrate. Short target-substrate distance for relatively good uniformity.	Sputter deposition in chamber with 6 sputter guns with 2" targets at a slight angle to the substrate.	Sputter deposition in chamber with 6 sputter guns for metal and oxide deposition.	Sputter deposition in chamber with 4 sputter guns for metal and nitride deposition.
Pre-clean	RF Ar clean	RF Ar clean	RF Ar clean	RF Ar clean
Target (source material) size	4"	2"	3"	3" and 4"
Angle between target and substrate	facing directly	tilted	tilted	tilted and facing directly
Power supply options	DC	DC and RF	DC, RF, Pulsed DC, and HiPIMS	DC, RF, Pulsed DC, and HiPIMS
Other options		High-strength magnet for magnetic materials	High-strength magnet for magnetic materials
Batch size	24x2" wafers or 6x4" wafers or 6x6" wafers	1x4" wafer or 1x6" wafer or several small samples	up to 10x4" wafers or up to 10x6" wafers or many smaller samples	up to 10x4" wafers or up to 10x6" wafers or many smaller samples
Pumping time from wafer load	Approx. 1.5 hours	Approx. 10 min	Approx. 5 min plus 6 min transfer time	Approx. 5 min plus 6 min transfer time
Allowed substrates	Silicon wafers Quartz wafers Pyrex wafers	Silicon wafers And almost any that does not degas. Special carrier for III-V materials.	Silicon wafers And almost any that does not degas. Special carrier for III-V materials.	Silicon wafers And almost any that does not degas. Special carrier for III-V materials.
Allowed materials	Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Metals	Almost any - see cross contamination sheet	Almost any - see cross contamination sheet	Almost any - see cross contamination sheet
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