Overview of PVD Technologies. Engineering Coursework

* Overview of PVD Technologies
Coating PVD plasma is a physical process in which one type of metal is deposited on the other to make it more durable and reliable during harsh operating conditions. The process of PVD (physical vapor deposition) is completely different from CVD (chemical vapor deposition) and it requires no chemical reaction to deposit the materials on the surface of the other metal. There several pros and cons of this technique which are discussed in this section. This method is the only available method to cleanly deposit the one metal over another. The other methods involved used for the coating material involve chemical reactions and massive cleanups after the process which are ultimately not environmental friendly. Therefore, this method is far safer than its chemical counterparts. The highlighted advantages of this technique are summarized in the following points:
a. The material can be deposited with improved characteristics compared to their chemical counterparts and require less physical and chemical resources.
b. Any type of inorganic substance can be used. Some industrial applications have used organic materials to develop the required deposits and films.
c. The process as stated earlier is environmentally friendly and, therefore, one of the most preferred ways for the desired purpose.
There are some disadvantages or cons associated with this methodology which are summarized in the following points:
a. One of the most significant challenges is the impact of the surrounding environment on the operation of PVD based devices. The continuous operations at a constant voltage and high temperatures caused an increase in the gate current which ultimately increases the operating costs and decreases the lifetime of the devices.
b. The manufacturing process involves the employment of several expensive devices and thus the entire process is not a cost-effective option in today’s economically driven marketplaces.
c. To reduce the adverse effects of high temperatures, skilled professionals are required to operate the devices, and installation of the appropriate cooling system is of crucial importance for the sustainability of the devices.
a. As proved in our experiment the entire process takes the significant amount of time. The pure sample is obtained after multiple rounds of the UV Masking and Etching processes. The conventional soldering process cannot be employed to reduce time constraints in the manufacturing of such materials.
* Experimental Arrangement:
Figure 1: Overview of Sample Preparation.
Figure 2: Top, and Side Views of Sample.
* Fabrication Process
1 Substrate Si region is heated from T1=20C up to T2=400C. All other regions are “air”.
2 The oxide isolation layer is deposited. The layer consists of two material regions, D1 (oxide) and contact (oxide). The temperature drops from T1=400C to T2=20C.
3 Etching of contact, which changes inheritance of contact region from oxide to contact (air)), T1=T2=20C.
4 The structure temperature is increased from T1=20C to T2=450C. After this step the structure consists of Si, D1 (oxide) while all other regions are “air”.
5 The layer contact (W) is deposited and temperature drops from T1=450C to T2=300C for aluminum layer deposition at the next step.
6 Aluminum deposition: regions metal 1(Al) and D2 (Al) are deposited now and temperature drops from T1=300C to room temperature T2=20C.
7 Etching of D2 region: D2 (air) at T1=T2=20C.
8 The structure consisted of D1 (oxide), contact (W), metal 1(Al), while the rest of the structure are “air” regions, is heated from T1=20C up to T2=400C for subsequent oxide deposition.
9 The following three regions are filled with oxide D2 (oxide), via (oxide), D3 (oxide), and the structure was cooled down from T1=400C to T2=20C;
10 The resulting via is etched so the via region is now via (air), T1=T2=20C.
The structure consisted of Si, D1 (oxide), contact (W), metals (Al), D2(oxide), and D3(oxide) is heated from T1=20C to T2=450C for the tungsten deposition into the via region.
The tungsten deposition into via (W), T1=450C, T2=300C.
Deposition of metal2(Al) and D4(Al) and cool down from T1=300C to T2=20C;
The etching of D4 (Al), so now it is D4 (air) at room temperature T1=T2=20C.
The structure consisted of Si, D1 (oxide), contact (W), D2 (oxide), D3 (oxide), metal 1(Al), metal2 (Al) is heated from T1=20C up to T2=400C for the future deposition of passivation nitride...