[labnetwork] Rehabilitation of sputtering chamber with uncertain history

[Aaron Hryciw]

Dear colleagues,

Our open-access facility recently inherited an AJA Orion 5 sputtering
system from the lab of a PI who had left the university.  While it has a
number of nice features that would make it a welcome addition to our
toolset (e.g., load locked, substrate heating, automated deposition
control, etc.), it also has a somewhat uncertain history, due to
inconsistent and/or missing record keeping in its previous lab.  We know
for certain that it was used for many magnesium depositions, but there are
also rumours of possible antimony and cadmium (!) depositions, albeit only
a handful of times.

I am looking for advice on how to bring this system to a state where we can
safely use and maintain it in the long term.  Given its uncertain history
and possible toxic contents, we are wary of performing a physical chamber
clean ourselves.  Are there service providers available to whom we could
send the chamber and deposition hardware (guns, dark space shields,
shutters, etc.) to get chemically or physically cleaned?  Is it feasible to
forego cleaning altogether and just bury everything in a thick Ti layer?

We have a number of elemental analysis capabilities in house, so we should
in the near future be able to have at least semi-quantitative data on what
materials are on the chamber walls, but I thought I would poll the
Labnetwork for general best practices on how to proceed.  Many thanks in
advance.

Cheers,

 – Aaron




Aaron Hryciw, PhD, PEng

Fabrication Group Manager

University of Alberta - nanoFAB

W1-060 ECERF Building

9107 - 116 Street

Edmonton, Alberta

Canada T6G 2V4 Ph: 780-940-7938
www.nanofab.ualberta.ca
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