An evaporation system for film deposition using electron beam sources

Abstract

EBPVD (electron beam physical vapor deposition) technique offers independence and freedom in control of microstructure and composition of the coating via manipulation of controlling process parameters such as pressure level, substrate temperature, gas content (in case of reactive evaporation), power (voltage, current) and evaporant composition. The process based on the above technique allows the production of films from a wide range of materials such as, metallic, dielectrics and semiconductors with relatively low deposition time. Though commercial coaters are available with transverse electron guns, their parameters are not negotiable. The design issues are not addressed in any literature. Some of the design issues and construction of an evaporation system will be presented in this paper. The evaporation system will be described in three parts, which consist of gun chamber, substrate chamber and specific accessories. The specific accessories correspond to substrate heater, substrate rotation, substrate holder maneuverability (heightwise), ion cleaning, film thickness monitor, crucible indexing and upstream/downstream pressure controller. Also the design issues related to the power source, which will energize the guns, will be presented in this paper.