Plasma deposition (CVD - Laboratory)
In the CVD (chemical vapour deposition) laboratory thin silicon layers are deposited through plasma assisted chemical deposition techniques.
A cluster tool facility (CVC Products, Inc.) is used for the deposition of thin films. It consists of a central wafer handling chamber that is connected to three different deposition chambers, one load- lock chamber and a high-vacuum transfer port.
The three deposition chambers:
- an ECR-CVD (electron-cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition) chamber
- two PE-CVD (plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition) chambers
With the wafer handling chamber samples of up to 8" diameter can be stored and transferred under high vacuum conditions (p ≈ 1•10-7 Torr). Through the load- lock chamber subtrates can be introduced into the vacuum system within a few minutes. The high-vacuum transfer port allows the loading and unloading of samples and their transfer to other vacuum systems without having contact with air.
Additionally, a small PE-CVD reactor (rf-Plasma) without a vacuum transfer system is available. This chamber is also used for the deposition of amorphous silicon layers on glass substrates.
