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Material Deposition
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Electron Beam Evaporation (PVD75)
The PVD75 System is capable of electron beam evaporation. The system was designed
and built by Kurt J. Lesker Company. The depositions can be fully automated. Electron
beam evaporation is a deposition process is where a piece of the material (source)
is heated until it evaporates. The material then condenses on all the surrounding
surfaces, including the substrate. The electron beam is used to heat the source material.
This process is often used for metals, and anti-reflection coating due to it quick
deposition rate and cheaper material costs. TOP OF PAGE
RF/DC Magnetron Sputters RF/DC Magnetron Sputtering results in many collisions, smaller grain size, and better adhesion of material in thin films and coatings. RF (radio frequency) sputtering is good for insulting material and DC (Diode) sputtering is good for metals. Magnetron sputtering works by argon gas is flowed into the chamber, where it gets excited. This produces argon ions and electrons. The ions get accelerated to the surface of the target (the material that needs to be deposited) and are aided by a magnet, which traps the electron near the target and keeping the plasma going. The bombarding ions transfer momentum to the Target atoms. This causes the Target atoms to go into a gas phase and travel to the substrate forming a thin film or coating. TOP OF PAGE
Linear RF/Pulse DC Magnetron Sputtering Vacuum System The Linear RF/Pulse DC Magnetron Sputtering Vacuum System is capable of RF magnetron sputter deposition of CdS and CdTe materials. The system was designed and built by Kurt J. Lesker Company. The depositions can be fully automated. The system has the capability of in-situ through the glass Spectroscopic Ellipsometer (SE) measurement. In-situ SE measurements allows for data through-the-glass without breaking the vacuum after the CdS/CdTe deposition on TCO/Glass substrate. This equipment is also capable of pulse DC magnetron sputtering. TOP OF PAGE
Material Dedicated RF/DC Magnetron Sputtering Vacuum Systems (CMS24s)
The CMS24s are RF/DC Magnetron Sputtering Vacuum Systems that were designed and built
by Kurt J. Lester Company. There are two dedicated RF/DC magnetron sputters that can
be partial automated for metal depositions or oxide depositions. Use mainly for fabrication
of CIGS solar cells. CMS24-1 is used for deposition of molybdenum back contact layer
and CMS24-2 is used for deposition of Transparent Conducting Oxides (TCO) and Buffer
layers. Each system contains 2 three inch RF sputtering gun and a single three inch
DC sputtering gun. TOP OF PAGE
Utility sputter chamber
The Utility Sputter is a RF sputtering system that was built in house. It contains
a single three inch RF sputtering gun. The system is employed primarily for exploratory
studies of newer materials or device fabrications. TOP OF PAGE
Cluster tool chambers
The computer controlled multi-chamber cassette cluster tool system was designed and
built by MV Systems. The system is equipped with 7 modular process zones (MPZs) having
ports for Spectroscopic Ellipsometers and one load lock (LL) around a central isolation
and transfer zone (ITZ). There are 4 Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD)
chambers, 2 dual cathode sputter chambers, 1 sputter chamber with mapping ellipsometer
and a load lock for the entry and exit of the substrate carrier with the option of
preheating / degassing. The system can be used for the deposition of thin film semiconductor
materials and devices on rigid and flexible substrates and collecting real time data
with the help of ellipsometers. Currently RF sputtering chambers are equipped with
metal, ZnO and ITO targets whereas, PECVD chambers can be used for intrinsic, n-type
and p-type amorphous/nano-crystalline silicon. The system also includes: pumping,
electronics cabinet, computer and gas manifold. The high vacuum pumping and the process
gas pumping of MPZs are provided via turbo molecular pumps backed by rotary vane pumps.
The system can be partially operated locally via the control panel on the electronics
rack or via the computer interface in manual, semi-auto or fully automatic modes.
The system is comprised of proper disposal of toxic/pyrophoric gases as well as Emergency
gas off system. TOP OF PAGE
RF/DC Magnetron Sputtering Utility System
The Lesker system is a four target sputtering system equipped with a rotatable sample
mount, MKS Multi-Gas Controller for sputtering gasses and a helium cooled CTI -Cryogenics
Cryo-Torr High Vacuum Pump. At the moment, targets for Indium Tin Oxide, Indium Oxide
and Molybdenum are installed. Extensive testing has been done with the ITO and Mo
targets, and plans have been made for modifications to the system that would allow
for IR heating and temperature control of a substrate. TOP OF PAGE
AJA Co-evaporation Systems
The AJA Co-evaporation System uses vacuum growth method to deposit CZTSe film. It
is built with five different Luxel heating sources for the deposition of elemental
Cu, Zn, Sn, Se. This system is capable to grow the film on 6” X 6” substrate using
rotating substrate holder. The optical crystal monitor controlled by IC6 is generally
used for thickness calibration. However, an electron impact emission spectroscopy
(EIES) can also be used for flux measurement. TOP OF PAGE
Spray deposition system
The ultrasonic spray deposition is a method of solution processing of inorganic and
hybrid materials for electronics and photonics. It can be used to low-cost preparation
of materials for solar cells, transistors, and other devices, due to the possibility
of reducing costs of producing various high-quality thin-film or structured materials
(organic, inorganic or hybrid) at relatively low temperatures. Thin films can be deposited
in air or in a controlled environment such as nitrogen. The deposition process is
well controlled using software and circuitry developed in-house. In our lab, the system
is mainly used for carbon single wall nanotube (SWNT) films and Cu chalcogenide thin
films (CIGS/CZTS), but it can also deposit other films, such as CdS, In2S3, ZnS, ZnO
and SnOx. TOP OF PAGE
Thermal Evaporation System (Denton Vacuum 502A)
The Denton Thermal Evaporator is a two source evaporation system equipped with quartz
deposition thickness monitors, removable evaporation mounts and a mechanical turbo
pump. The system combines a high vacuum environment with finely controlled deposition
conditions for high quality metallic films. Currently, the equipment is used for metal
depositions among other materials. TOP OF PAGE
Close Spaced Sublimation Systems
The idea is to sublimate the source material (using powder form) directly onto substrates
(3” X 3”) at high temperature. The required source temperature is generally > 500
oC for mTorr range partial pressure. Six home-made reactors for CdTe, CdS, Zn3P2,
CdCl2, ZnCl2 deposition. TOP OF PAGE
Dip Coater
The dip coating technique is a solution based methods to fabricate thin films on any
substrates. In the coating process, the substrate is partially submerged into a coating
pan containing the solution to be coated and a wet film is withdrawn in air to get
it dry. This process is repeated several times to get film of required thickness.
The machine is controlled by programming software where different dipping parameters
can be varied such as dipping time, speed of substrate moving up and down and number
of cycles. The dip coater we have been using is from NIMA technology, England. TOP OF PAGE
Laurel WS-400-6NPP Spinner
The Spinner is used to spin coat materials ranging from photoresist for additional
lithographic patterning to nanomaterials for fabrication of a quantum dot solar cell.
The spinner is located in a clean room with UV filtered lights to allow for subsequent
lithographic patterning. TOP OF PAGE
Large area CdCl2 Treatment Tube Furnace
The large area CdCl2 treatment tube furnace is tube furnace consists of a 8 in diameter
fused quartz reaction tube surrounded by IR heating coils. This furnace allows for
up 6 in. by 6 in. samples to be heating in a controlled environment for CdCl2 treatment
. The current set-up allows for N2, Ar, and dry air. TOP OF PAGE
Schlenk Line
Schlenk line is a commonly used chemistry apparatus consisting of a dual manifold
with several ports. One manifold is connected to a source of purified inert gas (such
as nitrogen, argon) and the other manifold is connected to the vacuum pump through
a liquid nitrogen trap. Quantum dots or nanocrystals are highly susceptible to oxidation;
traces of oxygen may cause a problem. These materials are highly delicate especially
during synthesis even though they need protection all the time. So, for their safety,
we use Schlenk line to synthesize these materials. TOP OF PAGE
