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 Lesker.

Thermal deposition of silver

• Thermal deposition of Silver in the Thermal Evaporator

Comparison of Deposition Equipment for Silver

	E-beam evaporation (E-beam evaporator (Temescal) and E-beam evaporator (10-pockets))	Thermal evaporation (Thermal Evaporator)	Sputter deposition (Lesker)	Sputter deposition (Sputter-system Metal-Oxide (PC1) and Sputter-system Metal-Nitride (PC3))
General description	E-beam deposition of Ag (line-of-sight, very good thickness uniformity)	Thermal deposition of Ag (line-of-sight)	Sputter deposition of Ag (some step coverage)	Sputter deposition of Ag including pulsed DC and HiPIMS
Pre-clean	Ar ion etch (only in E-beam evaporator Temescal)	none	RF Ar clean	RF Ar clean
Layer thickness	10Å to 1µm*	10Å to 0.5µm **	10Å to about 2000Å	10Å to ?
Deposition rate	1 to 10Å/s	5Å/s	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" wafer or 1x6" wafer Up to 3x4" wafers smaller pieces	1x6" wafers or 1x4" wafers or smaller pieces	up to 10x6" wafers or up to 10x4" wafers or many smaller pieces
Allowed materials	Almost any as long as it does not outgas if you plan to use substrate heating. See cross-contamination sheets in Labmanager.	Almost any as long as it does not outgas. See cross-contamination sheet in Labmanager.	Almost any that do not degas. See also the cross-contamination sheet	Almost any that does not degas at your intended substrate temperature. See cross contamination sheets for PC1 and PC3
Comment	Pumpdown approx 20 min. Possible to tilt the wafer to achieve tunable step coverage.	Pumpdown approx 15 min.	Load and transfer < 10 minutes	Load and transfer approx. 12 minutes

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

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