Sputtering machines use energetic particles to eject atoms from a source material, which then coat a sample object. They are used in SEMs, semiconductor industry, and chemical composition analysis. They can be simple devices and use physical vapor deposition. They can also be used for coating various materials and cleaning delicate components.
A sputtering machine is usually a small sealed chamber in which energetic particles such as electrons bombard a source material which ejects atoms from the surface. These atoms then bounce off the chamber walls, coating a sample object within the chamber. Scanning electron microscopes (SEMs), which rely on the electrical conductivity of samples to view nanoscale features, often rely on this machine to coat biological samples with a thin layer of platinum for viewing. Other uses for sputtering machine technology include coating thin films in the deposition process for the semiconductor industry and etching a surface layer away from a material to determine its chemical composition.
Although the machines for which a sputtering machine prepares a sample can be very complex and expensive, the sputtering equipment need not be. These machines can be relatively simple devices that operate on established physical principles and often lack moving parts or require complex maintenance. Sizes vary from small table top devices to large floor standing models.
Physical vapor deposition is a routine method used in the design of sputtering machines. The deposition material is converted to vapor in a low pressure spray chamber, usually a partial vacuum. The vapor condenses on the substrate material in the chamber to form a thin film. This film may be only several layers of atoms or molecules thick and will thicken in direct proportion to the duration of the sputtering process. Other factors in thin film thickness include the mass of each material involved and the energy level of the coating particles, which can be charged from tens of electron volts up to thousands.
Charged atoms known as ions are also used by a sputtering machine in a process known as potential sputtering. The sputtered material is given an ionic charge which it then loses when it collides with the target surface. Related to this process is reactive ion etching (RIE), which uses naturally ionic materials in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) research, to analyze the presence of trace elements in materials. Static SIMS processing will create at such a fine rate that only a tenth of an atomic monolayer will be removed from the target surface. It is, therefore, another useful tool in nanotechnology research such as sputtering machine for SEM.
Other uses include the coating of flat glass, acrylics, and other plastics, as well as ceramics and crystals other than silicon. They can also be used as a very fine method of cleaning and polishing delicate components. Expensive jewelry and tableware such as gold cutlery can also undergo sputter deposition, as can specialized gold and aluminum films.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
