Design, construction, and performance of a low-cost deposition system for thin film multilayers

The design, development, and performance of a low-cost deposition system fo r thin film multilayers are presented. The aim for the construction of the apparatus was to prepare multilayer films of variable composition with a si ngle layer thickness ranging from a few to hundreds of angstroms. To ensure a high flexibility of the film stoichiometries up to five different elemen ts can be deposited independently onto the substrate via electron beam sour ces or Knudsen cells. The design of the transfer system has been kept very simple although it has a secure load-unload system to provide reliable tran sport from the antechamber to the deposition chamber and vice versa. The fi lms can be deposited simultaneously onto four substrate platelets. The depo sition process is controlled by a computer and all process-parameters are m onitored. The shutters of the evaporation cells are activated by a computer providing reproducible deposition processes. (C) 2001 American Institute o f Physics.