[labnetwork] DC sputtering of ITO

[Shivakumar Bhaskaran]

Long Chang,

I used to Sputter at low power. I usually start at 15W 2mTorr 10 SCCM of Ar, slowly ramp to 50W but not more than 50W. Sometimes ITO target cracks at high power and to avoid this I usually tell users to go at low power. I usually check the sputtering shield,chimney, shutter once a week for the flakes.

-Regards
-Shiva

Shivakumar Bhaskaran, Ph.D.,
Research and Development Scientist and Engineer,
National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI),
Stanford University, 348 Via Pueblo, Spilker Building,Room 004, Stanford, CA 94305.
Ph:650-498-5653
http://nanolabs.stanford.edu<http://nanolabs.stanford.edu/>


From: labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu [mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu] On Behalf Of Gerhard Ulbricht
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2016 1:34 PM
To: Chang, Long <lvchang at Central.UH.EDU>
Cc: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] DC sputtering of ITO

Sputtering at lower power will produce less heat and thermal stress and can delay flaking, but flakes will still show up when the film deposited on your sputter chimney and shutter gets thicker.

What we do for materials that are very prone to flaking (e.g. RF sputtered Si or DC sputtered W) is to send out chimney and shutter to get their insides arc-spray coated with a very rough and thick Al layer - about the surface structure of extra coarse sand paper. That for us has stopped Si flaking completely, in contrast to having to clean the sputter gun from flakes every 2 weeks. We have to get these parts re-coated every time we change a sputter target, but the company (Pentagon Technologies) does both the bead blasting and the new coating for us (what is very convenient), and it's not expensive.

Best regards,

Gerhard Ulbricht
Department of Physics
Broida Hall
University of California
Santa Barbara CA 93106


On 10/11/2016 4:24 PM, Chang, Long wrote:
Hi All,

We have a DC magnetron sputtering system using 2" diameter targets.  We've been observing many shorts due to severe flaking.  The student is using a recipe developed by her predecessor which uses 100W of DC power and 5 mTorr of Ar.  Does anyone know what steps should be taken to avoid/reduce flaking when DC sputtering ITO?  I suspect that the student is using too much power.

Thanks,
Long Chang
Nanofab Manager
University of Houston
3605 Cullen Blvd, Entrance 14
Room E1007A, SERC Bldg 545
Houston, TX 77204-5062





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