deposition: Oerlikon Univex Sputter

The Oerlikon Leybold Univex 400 RF/DC Sputter Station is a tool used for the deposition of both metal and dielectric films using three Angstrom Sciences 3 magnetron sputter guns configured in the sputter down configuration. Sputtering is a process wherein an argon plasma is generated, and charged argon ions are accelerated towards the target to kinetically knock target material off in random directions towards the substrate. Sputtering is a slightly conformal coating method when compared to e-beam evaporation, meaning some material will wind up depositing on the vertical sidewalls of features. But with a small target, and a fairly long distance between the target and the substrate, the majority of the deposition is on the flat horizontal faces. The rotation of the target and the angled sputter guns allows for good film thickness uniformity across a full 4 wafer.