Salient Characteristics_sputter.docx

Salient Characteristics

Commercial Availability Certification:

I have evaluated the commercial marketplace and determined that all of the salient characteristics documented below are available in products/services offered in the commercial marketplace.

Signature (typed name): __Brendan Hanrahan______ Technical Point of Contact (TPOC)

The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) requires one (1) ultra-high vacuum nitride sputter deposition system for research and production purposes with the following minimum characteristics:

Proven material development based on literature:

· To ensure a precedence for synthesizing ferroelectric nitride thin films, the Contractor shall provide reference to literature, which deposited the referenced material using the same/similar deposition chamber that the contractor is proposing. A strong track record is necessary to guarantee high quality ferroelectric properties; therefore, the following requirements must all be met in the provided reference(s):

· Aluminum nitride-based (AlMN) composition: AlxM1-xN (0.01<x<0.4) where M = scandium (Sc), boron (B), or yttrium (Y)

· Thickness: five (5) – 400 nanometers (nm)

· Coercive field: three (3) – six (6) MV cm-1 (megavolts per centimeter)

· Remnant polarization (PR): 80 – 130 μC cm-2 (microcoulomb per square centimeter) General Characteristics of Deposition System:

· The system shall be a research and low volume (100 wafers per month) production-capable sputter deposition tool geared toward controlled growth of thin film nitride materials on up to 200 millimeters (mm) diameter transparent and opaque substrates.

· The system shall consist of a stainless-steel vacuum main chamber for material deposition with a base pressure less than (<) five (5) x 10-8 Torr and a load lock chamber with a base pressure < one (1) x 10-7 Torr. Bake-out capability of main chamber to reduce contaminants (e.g., water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and oxygen (O2)).

· The interior of the main chamber shall be accessible through the top lid or side door for maintenance and target changes. The main chamber shall possess the ConFlat (CF) ports for at least the following components:

· Two (2) port for magnetically coupled viewports.

· One (1) port for load lock transfer

· One (1) port for residual gas analyzer (RGA)

· Two (2) ports for process gas introduction and venting

· Three (3) ports for vacuum gauges

· Two (2) spare ports for future reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) integration

· Two (2) spare ports for future ellipsometer

· The load lock shall consist of a cassette tray for loading at least six (6) substrates at a time with automated sample transfer into and out of the main chamber.

· The system shall possess at least (four (4)) or (five (5)) four (4) inch (”) magnetron sputter sources within the main chamber.

· The main chamber, load lock, electronics rack, gas and liquid plumbing and controls shall be mounted on a frame. The frame shall come with leveling capability, heavy duty caster wheels, and removable safety panels. The roughing pump and water chiller may be installed apart from the main frame.

· Capability to transfer transparent and opaque substrates.

· Wafers can be loaded with consistent rotational alignment on main chamber substrate holder.

· The system shall be equipped with up to three (3) pulsed direct current (DC) power supplies and two (2) radio frequency (RF) power supplies to sustain sputter depositions of electrically insulating and conducting target materials between one (1) and 50 Millitorr (mTorr).

· A power supply switch between each of the sources and power supply types shall be included in order to use power supplies interchangeably with sputtering sources.

· The system shall have a software interface for recipe building, automated execution, and parameter tracking for a batch of material growths on each of the substrates contained within the load lock.

· The system shall be interlocked to provide safety checks and interruption to the process to prevent system damage based on water flow, chamber pressure, plasma detection, pneumatic controls (if installed), and power disruption.

· The sample holder shall provide substrate heating between 23 and 800 degrees Celsius (°C), substrate DC and RF biasing, rotation, and height control (throw distance).

Load lock configuration:

· Automated multi-substrate greater than (>) five (5) load lock for 100-, 150-, and 200-millimeter (mm) diameter wafers and a maximum height of at least 10 mm.

· Capability of automated wafer transfer between load lock and main chamber.

· Capability of roughing pump with pumping speed > five (5) cubic feet per minute (cfm), turbo pump > 500 liters per second (l/s), and isolation valve on turbo pump.

· Capability of isolation gate valve between load lock and main chamber.

· Capability of inert gas venting.

· Capability of O-ring sealed door for loading and unloading substrates.

· Capability of automated, motorized drive for slot selection and transfer,

· Substrate heating desired to degas prior to main chamber transfer.

· Capable of handling opaque and transparent substrates with Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) and Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) specifications.

Main Chamber: sample fixture and manipulation:

· 100-, 150-, and 200-mm diameter substrates shall be readily compatible with appropriate wafer holders.

· Capable of handling opaque and transparent substrates with SEMI and JEITA specifications.

· Samples are consistently aligned with respect to rotation.

· The substrate can be heated between 23 and at least 800 °C with < five (5) percent (%) cross wafer variation in oxidizing and non-oxidizing environments and ramp rates >10 degrees Celsius per minute (°C/min). Additionally, the wafer-to-wafer temperature variability must be < 5 % across 100 wafers to ensure long term stability and process repeatability.

· Capability for electrically isolating substrate for DC and RF biasing with a maximum power output reaching greater than or equal to (≥) 50 watts (W).

· The substrate rotation speed can be variably controlled between zero (0) and 20 revolutions per minute (rpm), preferably in the software.

· The z-height of the substrate can be controlled between 100 - 200 mm distance from the sources, preferred minimum of 50 mm.

· A substrate shutter that can open/close (pneumatic control).

· At least two (2) interchangeable shutter and shielding sets must be supplied for cleaning.

· Each element on the process chamber must have a defined electrical contact state (floating, grounded or biased).

· The thickness uniformity across a 200 mm wafer must be within < two (2) % for deposition from single and multiple sputtering sources both with and without substrate bias. The wafer-to-wafer thickness stability must be < two (2) % across 100 wafers.

· Shall have inert and reactive gas injection near the substrate surface for advanced deposition mode control.

Source configuration, performance, and control:

· Capability of four (4) or five (5) four (4) inch (”) magnetron sources with confocal alignment.

· At least two (2) shutter and shielding sets must be supplied easily interchangeable for cleaning and each element must have a defined electrical contact state (floating, grounded or biased).

· Each source shall have a pneumatically controlled shutter to allow pre-sputtering and prevent cross contamination of target surfaces.

· Each source shall have inert and reactive gas injection at the target surface for advanced target sputter mode control.

· Each source shall have back water cooling of the target.

· Source distance to substrate and tilt relative to substrate plane shall be adjustable.

· Sources shall be capable of RF, DC, and pulsed DC sputter operation while operating between two (2) – 20 mTorr process pressure.

· A switch relay shall be included to enable co-deposition and software-controlled source/power supply reconfiguration.

· All sources shall be able to operate simultaneous and independently.

Sputter source power supplies:

· Two (2) RF power supplies with matching networks of at least 600 W.

· Three (3) pulsed DC (pDC) power supplies of at least one (1) killowatt (kW), zero (0) -1000-volt (V) DC output, zero (0) to three (3) ampere (A) current output, and 10 – 200 kilohertz (kHz) output frequency. There shall be options of whether the dedicated pDC supply operates in either pulse mode or DC mode.

· One (1) designated RF bias supply for substrate biasing pre- and during deposition of at least 50 W.

· Capability to configure a pDC supply as a substrate bias.

· One (1) DC bias supply for substrate preferred.

· The system shall have an electronics rack with included power supplies installed.

Pressure performance, control, and monitoring:

· Two (2) > 10 cfm dry scroll roughing pump for main chamber and load lock.

· > 600 l/s cryo or turbomolecular pump (main chamber).

· >200 l/s turbo pump (load lock).

· Variable position gate valve and control for both downstream and upstream pressure control.

· Roughing valve and fore line.

· Convection gauge for 1 x 103 > 1 x 10-3 Torr pressure monitoring.

· Ion gauge for < 1 x 10-3 Torr pressure monitoring.

· Capacitance manometer or similar high accuracy press gauge to monitor deposition.

· Residual gas analyzer (RGA) installed on the main chamber is preferred to monitor partial pressures of contaminating and working gases prior to and during depositions.

Gas distribution, management, and monitoring:

· At least four (4) mass flow controllers (MFCs) for flowing 20 standard cubic centimeter per minute (sccm) nitrogen (N2), 100 sccm argon (Ar), 20 sccm oxygen (O2), and 100 sccm additional gases (calibrated for N2) to enable upstream pressure control (as well as downstream).

· Capability to control Ar/N2 gas flow to each magnetron source with shut-off valves to direct gases for co-deposition processes.

· Vacuum coupling radiation (VCR) fittings and stainless tubing for gas distribution and provide vacuum tight seals to degas oxygen/moisture in lines.

· Compressed air for controlling pneumatic devices with compression fittings.

· Capability to switch gas flow inlet between magnetron sources and substrate.

· Oxygen and moisture scrubbing capability on N2 and Ar lines with indicator.

Water distribution and monitoring:

· The system shall have a closed-loop water chiller to maintain water temperatures below 35 °C during constant operation under harshest conditions (≥800 °C substrate temperature, 1000 W pulsed DC power on two sputter sources).

· The water shall provide cooling to the sputter sources, and other necessary components to prevent damage and provide higher safety.

Power distribution and management:

· Single drop 208 V alternating current (AC), 60 hertz (Hz), three (3) phase, five (5) wire.

· Wired to a central hub for distribution.

· The system shall have an emergency off (EMO) switch.

Software control and interface:

· The system shall be fully controllable from an included dedicated computer station.

· The computer interface shall provide real-time information of all the deposition system hardware signals and statuses, and the computer shall log the system data throughout each recipe.

· The computer shall allow for multiple user accounts.

In-situ monitoring tools:

· The system shall have a quartz crystal monitor (QCM) to accurately measure sputter deposition rate at the same throw distance as the sample surface. This capability shall come with necessary components such as feedthroughs, cables, analyzer, and communicate with provided computer.

· The system is preferred to have a residual gas analyzer (RGA) to monitor partial pressures of gases ranging between one (1) to 100 amu between the system base pressure and at least 10 mTorr.

Spare parts / add-ons:

· One (1) additional set of liners, shields, mounts, substrate adapters.

· Optional: water chiller, roughing pump, cryo/turbo pump, heating jacket.

· Uninterruptable power supply backup at a capacity of supporting the vacuum pumps in the case of a one (1) hour shutdown.

The Contractor shall ensure the system meets the following requirements:

· The system shall meet current industry standard requirements for safety as regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and National Electrical Code (NEC) including the use of EMO (Emergency Off) panic buttons, shielding and interlocks for hazardous areas including high voltages, radiation, heat, and moving parts.

· The system shall have signage denoting the hazards present.

· The Contactor shall provide one (1) spare parts kit consisting of items subject to relatively rapid wear such as would be provided to 24 hours per day, 7 days per week (24/7) customers.

· The system shall come with two (2) complete sets of schematics including electrical diagrams, two (2) complete operating manuals written in English, and one (1) manual on clean room paper.

· The Contractor shall provide factory testing prior to delivery to Adelphi Laboratory Center (ALC) based on Government provided material qualifications for aluminum nitride (AlN) and molybdenum (Mo) depositions including uniformity, thickness, deposition rate, and purity. Additional specifications will require validation:

· Particle count test

· O2 and H2O background reproducibility

· Deposition stability over 100 wafers with 2% thickness variation and 5% wafer variation.

· 2-3 days factory acceptance testing at contractor’s factory.

· The system shall have shipping costs that include insurance and customs fees.

· The Contractor shall ensure that the electrical components within the deposition system are based on voltages, frequency and currents commonly used in the United States of America that include 120, 208, 240, and 480 Volts.

· The Contractor shall deliver and install the sputter deposition system to the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), 2800 Powder Mill Road, Specialty Electronic Materials and Sensors Cleanroom (SEMASC) facility.

· The Contractor shall prove to the Government that the deposition system is fully functional after the system has been installed using Government created acceptance tests.

· The Contractor shall submit a post-installation acceptance test report to the Government outlining the results of the acceptance tests. The Government will approve the acceptance test report within one (1) week of receiving the results.

· The Contractor shall conduct operator and maintenance training following the installation of the sputter deposition system at the Government’s site. For the training purposes, the Contractor shall travel to the ARL in Adelphi, Maryland, to provide operator and maintenance training for up to eight (8) participants.

· The Contractor shall provide access to a technical support person to answer questions regarding tool operation, hardware troubleshooting and basic processes via telephone or email during normal business hours for the time zone of the contractor’s main base of operation for the duration of ownership by the Government.

The day the Government approves the post-installation report, the Contractor shall provide a warranty on the sputter deposition system for at least one (1) year that meets the following minimum requirements:

· The warranty shall cover repairs or modifications if the deposition system is no longer functional.

· The warranty shall cover labor and transportation costs including airfare, accommodation and per diems to and from ARL for the technical support individual when necessary.

· The warranty shall guarantee a response time of forty-eight (48) hours from the time the Government calls or emails for a request for service.

· The warranty shall cover all parts excluding consumable parts and materials including sputter targets, vacuum gauge tubes, pump oils and greases, filter elements, ion source filaments, grids and liners.

Contracting Officer:

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