An Ultrahigh-Vacuum Specimen Chamber for In-Situ Electron Microscopy of Vapor Deposition Processes

Abstract

The electron microscope has often been used in the past to study in-situ the details of thin film nucleation and growth processes. However, a lack of adequate control of important experimental deposition parameters, such as substrate cleanliness, residual gas pressure and composition, and super-saturation ratio, has limited the usefulness of the technique and in most cases prevented the acquisition of reliable quantitative results.Accordingly, a new specimen chamber for use on a RCA EMU-4 instrument was built that regularly reaches base pressures of 3x10-10 torr, maintains pressures of less than 5x10-9 torr during the vapor deposition phase, and affords accurate control of the other deposition parameters.