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ATC-T SERIES THERMAL EVAPORATION SYSTEMS

General Information

AJA International ATC-T Series Thermal Evaporation Systems are thin film deposition tools offering exceptional value while delivering optimal performance and utilizing top quality sub-components. They are available in both cylindrical (UHV) and box style (HV) configurations. These systems inherit many design features and common parts from the highly evolved ATC & ATC Orion sputtering tools and can be outfitted with AJA International's unique 300 Amp, water-cooled thermal evaporation sources, Knudsen cells, low temperature evaporation cells for organic materials and Luxel Radak Sources. In addition, these tools can include AJA magnetron sputter sources, load-locks, QCM monitoring and control, heated or cooled substrate holders, planetaries, various pumping packages and automated control.

TYPICAL thermal EVAPORATION system configurations

ATC Orion 5-T

ATC Orion 5-T
Featuring (3) AJA thermal sources with and an 850°C substrate heater.

ATC Orion 8-T

ATC Orion 8-T
Fitted with (3) Luxel Radak furnaces, and 850°C substrate heater and a turbo-pumped vacuum load-lock.

ATC 1800 T

ATC 1800 T UHV
Accommodates up to (4) Radak Furnaces and a 4cm K&R gridded ion source for pre-cleaning and ion assisted thermal deposition. The sources include individual QCM isolation tubes to allow controlled co-deposition and an 850°C substrate heater.

ATC 2200-T UHV

ATC 2200-T UHV with Load-Lock
This versatile UHV tool can accommodate either 6 Radak Evaporation Furnaces or a 6 Pocket Linear E Beam Source on a convenient slide mechanism. It also features (6) QCM heads with isolation tubes for controlled co-deposition. A gridded ion source and numerous thermal sources are also offered.

ATC 2030-T

ATC 2030-T Box Coater
Thermal box coater with LN2 substrate cooling, (4) AJA 300A thermal sources and a turbopumped vacuum load-lock..

TYPICAL RATE / UNIFORMITY DATA

The ATC-T Series Thermal Evaporation Systems can be configured for high and low rate/temperature applications. Controlled co-deposition is also a specialty. Proper substrate fixturing/motion is ideal for optimizing uniformity.

Evaporation uniformity data taken from ATC 1800 T by AJA International, Inc.

The actual data shown at the left was taken from the ATC 1800-T shown above with (4) Radak II Furnaces. The uniformity achieved over a 100 mm diameter wafer is +/- 2%. In this system any of the (4) Radak sources can achieve this uniformity when operated independently or when operated simultaneously in a controllable co-deposition experiment.

EVAPORATION SOURCES

AJA’s offers a variety of evaporation sources on the ATC-T, ATC Orion-T and ATC 2030/36-T deposition systems. The vertical cylinder chambers are best suited to linear, multi-pocket, UHV, e-beam sources which are side mounted and attached to a convenient slide rail for service and loading access. Spare ports on the chamber bottom straddling the linear e-beam source allow for the addition of up to 4 thermal evaporation sources. Smaller ATC Orion-TE chambers are ideally suited to multiple, small, thermal evaporation sources (k-cell, resistive boat, Radak, low temp organic) often in combination with magnetron sputter sources. The ATC 2030/36-E HV box coaters with large loading doors are generally fitted with rotary pocket e-beam sources, resistive thermal sources and substrate carriers of all forms - heated, cooled, tilting, planetary, wedge shuttered, etc.

(2) AJA Thermal Evaporation Sources with water
cooled feedthroughs, shutter assemblies,
and (2) in-situ material refill systems for replenishing boats without breaking vacuum.

(6) Pocket Linear E-Beam Source
with (4) isolated and shuttered AJA thermal evaporation sources.

Evaporation Well for ATC Orion Chambers
This Evaporation well mounts to the bottom of standard ATC Orion chambers and features (3) isolated and shuttered Radak II evaporation furnaces. The well helps increase the working distance in shorter multi-use chambers to optimize uniformity.

Mini Thermal Evaporator Retrofit Flange
This retrofit flange can be employed on shorter chambers and features a water cooled base flange for thermal boats in close proximity. It is ideal for small substrates and is offered with a high current power supply with a (3) way switchbox.

Retractable Linear Slide
Accommodates up to 6 Radak sources with individual shutters and isolation shielding. This design is excellent for source refilling, crucible exchange and maintenance.

Source Shutter and Isolation (internal view)
Also visible is a gridded ion source and an opening in the center of the shielding for an optical pyrometer pointed directly at the center of the substrate.

SUBSTRATE HOLDERS - HEATING / COOLING

AJA is able to fit your customized evaporation system with a wide variety of substrate holders. These include motorized, rotating substrate holders and planetaries to achieve excellent uniformity, heating up to 1000°C, substrate RF and DC biasing, in-situ manual or motorized Z motion (for working distance adjustment and load-lock transfer) and in-situ mask exchange (available only with certain configurations). Cooled substrate carriers ( H2O/ LN2) are also available depending on the application requirements. Process gas ring or gas distributor options are offered for reactive processing or applications requiring an anneal step.

850°C Heater with QCM Isolation tubes
When controlled thermal co-deposition is desired, individual isolated QCM's are required. AJA has optimized software to make this reliable and consistent.

800°C 6" Heater with QCM Isolation tubes
In this picture, a larger version of the substrate heater on the left is shown with as many as 6 QCM isolation tubes.

6” LN2 Cooled Substrate Holder
with rotation and Z-motion

4” SiC 1000°C Substrate Heater
with a water-cooled wedge type shutter for high temp. gradient films, and secondary “swing in” LN2 cooled substrate holder.

6” Water Cooled Substrate Holder
front side radiant heating

Planetary Substrate Holder
capable of accommodating (4) 4” wafers

Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) 4” Substrate Holder with 800°C heating, rotation, and +/- 180° tilting

Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) 6" Substrate Holder with water cooling, rotation, and +/- 180° tilting

PHASE II-E COMPUTER CONTROL

The AJA Labview based Phase II-E computer control system is offered on all ATC-T Series Thermal Evaporation Systems. This straightforward, user friendly control system utilizes a large, flat-screen laptop in a 19” rack drawer connected to a single 7” high x 19” wide rack mount hardware module. The back panel of the hardware module is populated with connectors to interface to all aspects of the Thermal Evaporation System.
The Phase II-E control system allows the user to operate in either the “manual mode” or the “automated processing mode.” In the “automated processing mode” the user designs process “layers” which are then compiled and saved as a “process”. The system allows 10 unique user entry points which are accessible only by password, limiting access to a user’s layers and preventing unexpected corruption of a user’s saved processes.

The standard Phase II-E control system will accommodate up to (2) e-beam sources, (6) thermal sources, (1) ion source or (1) RF bias supply, (3) process gases, (6) thickness monitors, (6) shutters, closed loop automatic pressure control if required and substrate temperature control and motion. Processes are aborted if proper feedback is not detected. Special “soak layers” can be easily incorporated into the process. Finally, data logging is standard with an adjustable refresh period. Process data can be downloaded to common spreadsheet programs. The Phase II E is often linked directly to a deposition controller with multiple QCM heads. Isolation of the QCM heads allows for controlled co-deposition.

Labview Computer Control
Large screen laptop on convenient slide drawer
for Labview based ATC system computer control. Replacement laptops are always in stock at AJA.

Computer Control Module Phase II E PLC
Phase II E PLC in compact 4U rack mount case. This module is fitted from the outset with all receptacles for quick field retrofits/upgrades.

INFICON SQC310

INFICON SQC310

For many evaporation system applications AJA uses the INFICON SQC310 Series deposition controller. The SQC310 is fully interfaced to control thermal source power, shutter control, and both single and co-evaporation (SQC-310-C) processes. A large on board storage capacity of 100 individual processes and 1,000 layers, enables easy access to recall processes and parameters for sample repeatability. The controller package also includes a Windows program for developing, testing, and downloading processes, and for logging instrument data to a customer’s PC if desired for process analysis and quality control.