Sputter/Evaporation Dual Chamber System (AJA Orion)

Commissioned in Feb. 2013

The system is designed for 3-inch wafers, with substrate rotation 0-40 rpm and heating up to 850°C. System base pressure is better than 1×10^-8 torr. The magnetron sputter chamber is equipped with 10 sputter guns, and RHEED growth monitoring. The evaporation chamber is equipped with one e-gun (5-pocket, 5kW) and four thermal sources, plus an atomic gas source for the reactive growth of oxides and nitrides. An additional wafer handler enables substrate tilting during evaporation. The load-lock chamber is equipped with a 6-cassette shadow mask changing system.

Diamond CVD (SEKI AX5250M)

Commissioned in June 2012

The AX5250 microwave plasma reactor incorporates 5 kW at 2.45 GHz microwave generator to produce plasmas at high power densities. Such operation allows a new regime of plasma chemistries. This reactor at our facility is dedicated to synthesizing high quality single crystal and poly crystalline diamond. Light doping, e.g., with Nitrogen, is facilitated with the natural presence of impurities in the processing gases, while heavy doping, e.g. with Boron/Phosphorus, is achieved by introducing additional gas channels. The system can accommodate up to three dopant gases. The maximum wafer size 2”, and the maximum processing temperature 1100°C.

XRD (Bruker D8 Discover)

Commissioned in May 2013

This X-ray analyzer is capable of performing high-resolution X-ray diffraction, gracing incidence diffraction, reflectometry, and reciprocal space mapping. It consists of a centric Euclerian cradle with Chi/Phi rotations and X-Y-Z translations; high resolution optics with a Ge 2-bounce monochromator, a 3-bounce pathfinder, and fully automated slits; a Göbel mirror for Cu radiation. The system is equipped with a vacuum chuck holding up to 5” wafers.

UHV Cluster Deposition System (Omicron)

(commissioned in Dec. 2014)

This large scale thin film deposition system has three Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) systems, two magnetron sputter systems, and one surface analysis module, all interconnected through a linear transfer line. This system is uniquely designed to combine the three major spin systems, magnetism, superconductivity, and quantum spin Hall state, completely in situ under ultra-high vacuum and maintain the cleanest interfaces possible. The three MBEs are dedicated to perovskite oxides (YBaCuO, SrTiO, LaSrMnO, etc.), metal / ferrites (XFe₂O₄) / binary compounds (MgB₂ etc.), and topological insulators (Bi/Te/Se with Cu/Ca/Cr doping), respectively. The metal MBE chamber is equipped with an additional 6-cell linear e-gun. The two sputter systems are devoted to depositing more conventional magnetic materials (12 guns) and superconductors (8 guns), respectively. The analysis module enables sensitive surface characterizations with XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) / AES (Auger electron spectroscopy) / UPS (ultra-violet photoelectron spectroscopy), and is equipped with an ion sputter gun for depth profiling. A sample preparation sub-chamber, located right next to the load-lock, allows for well controlled device surface treatment before, after, or in between film growths (annealing, ion milling, oxidation / nitridation, etc.). Shadow mask assembly is available in the load-lock, substrate tilting in the metal MBE, atomic gas sources in both oxide and metal MBEs, and RHEED in all three MBEs. The system base pressure is 1×10^-10 torr for MBE / surface analysis, and 1×10^-9 torr for sputtering. The standard wafer size is 2”. Maximum substrate temperature is 1100°C in the MBE systems, 850°C in the sputter systems, and 527°C in the analysis module. The system has detachable vacuum transfer shuttles for transporting delicate specimen, while maintaining under UHV, into other growth/characterization systems, for example, to the ALD (atomic layer deposition) / PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) deposition systems (located at QNC on campus) for the growth of high quality dielectrics and semiconductors, or to the Canadian Light Source beam lines for advanced ARPES analysis (Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy).