Abstract
Standard physical vapor deposition systems are large, expensive, and slow. As part of an on-going effort to build a fab-on-a-chip, we have developed a chip-scale, low cost, fast physical vapor deposition system designed to be used with atomic calligraphy or dynamic stencil lithography to direct write nanostructures. The system comprises two MEMS devices: a chip-scale thermal evaporator and a mass sensor that serves as a film thickness monitor. Here, we demonstrate the functionality of both devices by depositing Pb thin-films. The thermal evaporator was made by fabless manufacturing using the SOIMUMPs processs (MEMSCAP, inc). It turns on in 1:46 s and reaches deposition rates as high as 7.2Å s <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> with ~1 mm separation from the target. The mass sensor is a re-purposed quartz oscillator (JTX210) that is commercially available for less than one dollar. Its resolution was measured to be 2.65 fg or 7.79E-5 monolayers of Pb.
Highlights
P HYSICAL vapor deposition (PVD) is a widely used method for thin film growth in which material is vaporized from a source, transported as a vapor, and condensed onto a target [1]–[3]
As part of an on-going effort to build a fab-on-a-chip (FoC) [21], we have developed a chip-scale, rapid, and inexpensive PVD system designed to be used with atomic calligraphy or stencil lithography to direct write nanostructures
The system is composed of two microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based devices: a chip-scale thermal evaporator and a mass sensor made from a commercial quartz oscillator
Summary
P HYSICAL vapor deposition (PVD) is a widely used method for thin film growth in which material is vaporized from a source, transported as a vapor, and condensed onto a target [1]–[3]. The system is composed of two microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based devices: a chip-scale thermal evaporator and a mass sensor made from a commercial quartz oscillator. These two devices combine into a PVD system that can start/stop deposition in less than 1.5 s, and has a volume of less than 1 cm (not including a necessary vacuum system). This is attributed to the adatoms having little or no mobility when they land on the target, and it is different than quench condensed films deposited with traditional PVD systems [14], [32] This behavior opens up the possibility of using microscale evaporators as a material source in a FoC single atom lithography system. This corresponds to 2.65 fg and 7.79E-5 monolayers of Pb
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
