Edwards HV depostioning system

Revised 2006-11-15, Anders Holmberg
Revised 2011-01-19, Anders Liljeborg
Revised 2018-01-02, Anders Liljeborg

Operation of the Edwards Deposition System

The following guide helps you through the use of the Edwards deposition system. There are no notes here about different faults that can occur during use, refer to your own notes or contact system responsible if there are unknown problems.

 

Start-up of the system

At the start of your session, the system should already be on and the display on the AUTO306 Controller shows FINE PUMPING. You can then go ahead with the Loading procedure.

The main power to the system can be turned on/off by the I/0 button the the left of the touch screen of the Auto306 Controller unit. Normally it should always be on. If the system is shut down, please contact the responsible person.

 

Loading procedure

  1. The AUTO306 Controller display should show SEALED or FINE PUMPING. Press the Seal button and then the Vent button on the controller. The Controller display will then show CHAMBER VENT.

  2. Wait until the Controller display shows SEALED, do not force open the chamber door before sealed is shown. Open the door and load substrates and so forth into the chamber. Change the cover glasses over the view-port if necessary. Rotate the crucible holder to the right material position and check so there are no foreign particles or metal flakes on the metal lump. Then close the chamber.

  3. Press the Process button on the Controller. The Controller display will then show ROUGHING, PUMP DOWN, and finally FINE PUMPING.

  4. Fill up the liquid Nitrogen trap and wait for process vacuum. The pump down time depends on the room humidity, the time the chamber door was open during loading, contamination degree of samples and chamber. Normally, the system pumps down to 4×10-6 mBar within 50 minutes.

  5. Start making notes in the Log Book. Follow the note structure of earlier depositions!

 

Deposit materials

  1. Recheck that you have chosen the right material for deposition. Choose the proper layer on the Film Thickness Monitor.

  2. Make sure you have achieved at least 8×10-6 mBar. Note the pressure value you have in the Log Book as Pini.

  3. Switch on the High Voltage Electron Beam Power Supply. The three green lamps on the Electron Beam Power Supply should go on.

  4. Turn the Sweep Control Unit 'on/off' switch to on. Adjust the X- and Y-Amplitude controls to proper values for your material.

  5. Check that the 'Current control' knob is at its 'min' position. Press the 'on/off' button on the Source Control to on. The fans in the Electron Beam Power Supply should start (you should hear this) and this is also indicated by the yellow lamp on the Electron Beam Power Supply. After a short delay, the power LED on the Source Control should go on.

  6. Recheck that the 'Current control' knob is at its 'min' position. Then, press 'Gun' button on the EB3 Source Control to on.

  7. Start heating the filament very, very slowly until the filament glows up in the chamber, and the Ammeter jumps from 0 to 3 mA. It should take ~10 s to do the turn from 'min' value on the current knob, to the position when the Ammeter shows 3 mA. Wait an additional 10 s.

  8. Make sure that the shutter is closed. Heat up the material by slowly increasing the current. Look through the viewing port onto the material and make sure that the material is heating up, as it should, while you are increasing the current. Readjust the sweep amplitude if this is required for the specific material. When you have reached the right current, note the pressure in the Log Book as Psta. Wait until the rate is > 0.

  9. Put your samples into rotation if you intend to do so. Start deposition by removing the shutter, and pressing 'open shutter' button on the Film Thickness Monitor simultaneously. Note the current and the deposition rate in the Log Book.

    OBSERVE! Do not leave the system by it self for longer time during the deposition (so you can stop if something goes wrong).

  10. When the right thickness is indicated on the Film Thickness Monitor, close the shutter, turn the filament current down to 0, press the 'Gun' button to off, and switch the Sweep Control Unit 'on/off' switch to off.

  11. Wait 3 min to allow the metal to cool down. Then press the 'on/off' button on the EB3 Source Control to off. Switch the High voltage Electron Beam Power Supply off. You are now ready to unload your samples.

 

Unload procedure

  1. Press the Seal button and then the Vent button on the AUTO306 Controller. The display will then show CHAMBER VENT.

  2. Wait until the Controller display shows SEALED, do not force open the door before sealed is shown. Unload your samples and close the chamber door.

  3. Press the Process button on the Controller. The Controller display will then show ROUGHING, PUMP DOWN, and finally FINE PUMPING.
Do not leave the system vented for longer time then necessary. Exposing the chamber to air for a long time will increase the pump down time.

 

Shut down of the system, only for service

The system should be left under vacuum as much as possible. That means it should be left in Fine Pumping when you are done with your session.

The system should be shut down for service only!

  1. Make sure that the display on the AUTO306 Controller shows FINE PUMPING and that the pressure is down to at least 9.9×10-5 mBar.

  2. Press the seal button, then the stop button. The AUTO306 Controller display shows TURBO STOP and then STANDBY.

Start up of system, after service

After a service shutdown (all power off) the sequence for starting is like this:
  1. Connect all power cables, one for the Auto 306 and one (3-phase) for the E-gun power supply, separate box.
  2. Press power on switch.
  3. Press "Reset" switch.
  4. Press "Start" on controller touch panel.
  5. Wait for turbo to reach speed
  6. Press "Process"
  7. The pump down should start and the display should read (in sequence):
  8. The vacuum should go down to about 10-5 mBar after about 5 - 10 minutes.
Warning! When starting pump down it is absolutely neccessary to have both front and back doors closed. There are sensor switches to both doors. Otherwies an error occurs and the pump down stops, backing pump is shut off. As you can see, the error text is not very helpful.

Anders Holmberg, Anders Liljeborg Nanostructure Physics, KTH.