Standard Operating Procedure

Cressington 108 Auto Sputter Coater

Contents

Overview

Operations

Targets Available

Troubleshooting/FAQs

Contact

About this document

Overview

The Cressington 108 Auto Sputter Coater is used for coating samples with a thin layer of a conductive metal film. These layers are typically used to dissipate electrical charge from non-conductive samples placed in SEMs and e-beam writing tools. Our tool sputter deposits a fine grained AuPd alloy compatible with high resolution SEM imaging. We also have pure Au targets available for installation upon request.

Note:You must be qualified by a staff member to use this tool.

Operations

  1. Enable tool on Badger –this will turn on the N2 and Ar gas flows
  2. The chamber should start venting.
  3. Open the lid and place your sample on the holder
  4. To start pumping, turn on power switch at lower left
  5. Press top plate firmly against glass cylinder during the initiation of pumping
  6. The system should be in Auto Mode
  7. Press CYCLE in the Auto Mode box to start a deposition cycle
  8. It will pump out the chamber, flush with Ar, re-pump, and leak Ar into the chamber and then start the plasma.
  9. Press Zero on the Thickness Monitor Controller once it pumps down. This will zero the thickness monitor reading for a new film
  10. Watch the thickness on the Monitor controller.
  11. A film thickness of 3-5 nm is desirable for SEM discharging.
  12. When the desired thickness is reached press PAUSE in the Auto Mode box
  13. Note: The maximum thickness allowed in this machine is 25nm.
  14. Then press CYCLE to end the deposition process, let it pump down.
  15. Turn off the power switch to vent the chamber.
  16. Remove your sample
  17. Turn the power switch back on to pump the chamber.
  18. Disable the tool on Badger
  19. Turn off the:
  20. Power switch on the system.
  21. Power switch on the Thickness Monitor Controller Box

Targets Available:

  1. Default Target: Au/Pd (20/80) gives best grain size for SEM imaging
  2. Au targets available on request:
  3. 99.99% Au
  4. 99.999% Au

Troubleshooting/FAQs

If encountering a problem, send an email to the tool contact.

Contact

Cliff Knollenberg /

About this document

1.0 / 04/20/2017 / Cliff Knollenberg / Initial Document

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Cressington Sputter Coaterv1.04/20/2017