Stabilizing Ion and Neutral Beam Assisted Deposition system

S I N B A D

Although SINBAD is not a very pretty piece of equipment (as you might see from the picture), it is a specially designed system for the in-situ investigation of thin solid films. SINBAD is a unique system capable of not only deposition of thin films but, it can be used for studies investigating the effect of energetic particles on materials.

Initially, the MBE chamber on the SPEAR  system had two effusion cells configured for thin film deposition of GaAs.  This MBE unit was then redesigned for the deposition of cubic-boron nitride (c-BN) films using ion beam-assisted deposition. The new unit, SINBAD,  is pumped by a 280 l/s turbomolecular pump (Varian Vacuum, Lexington, MA) and a 220 l/s ion pump (Physical Electronics, Eden Prairie, MN), with a base pressure 1 x 10^-9 Pa.

Just like the SPEAR system, SINBAD is designed to handle and deposit onto thin 3mm TEM ready samples.  The sample manipulation stage can be used for d.c. biasing of the sample as well as resistive heating during deposition.  The unit is equipped with a single position electron-beam evaporator (Thermionics Inc., Hayward CA), a 4 keV ion-gun (Perkin-Elmer Model 04-300, Eden Prairie MN), and a compact electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma source (AX-4300 Astex Inc., Boston MA). The ion-gun and ECR plasma source are currently set to be used with Argon and Nitrogen gases. The electron-beam evaporator right now uses a boron source but on demand it can be changed to another material.

Current studies using SINBAD involves the deposition of c-BN films on silicon and copper substrates. Also, there has been some research focused on the effects of ECR generated Nitrogen plasma on h-BN. Potential future experiments may involve ion-nitriding experiments using Ti and Zr for substrate materials for CarbonNitride deposition.

The layout of SPEAR  before and after installation:

Before and after schematics of SINBAD: