Vacuum and controlled atmosphere deposition is a process used to deposit films of materials on a solid surface (substrate). The deposited films can range from a thickness of several atoms or molecules (ultrathin films: between 10 Å and several hundred Å) up to micrometres or even millimetres (thick films). The material deposition process can be generated in various ways:
- thermal evaporation by Joule effect heating and e-beam heating
- sputtering (RF and DC)
- laser ablation, etc.
The following equipment are used to prepare thin films by the deposition processes in vacuum and controlled atmosphere at NIRDTP Iasi:
- ATC-2200/AJA International, Inc. (installed in a clean room ISO 5)
- Magnetron Sputtering System (Model MSS-6G2-2RF-2DC /Torr International, Inc.) (installed in a clean room ISO 7)
- Leybold Heraeus Z-400 with 2 sputtering targets and 1 e-beam source (facilities: manual substrate rotation, heating up to 350°C, cooling, RF and DC biasing)
- IEV -80 with 1 e-beam source and 3 Joule heating sources (facility: heating substrates up to 350°C). The substrate support has the form of hemisphere with a diameter of up to 40 centimetres