Thin film fabrication processes

Chapter 2:

Introduction to Vacuum Science and

Technology
 Outline

1. Introduction
2. Kinetics of the ideal gas
3. Transport of gas
4.  Pumps
5.  Evacuation of a chamber
6.  Pressure measurement
 VACUUM

- To get high deposition rates and low contamination (hot

vapor is very reactive), low chamber pressure is required.
Typically  10-9 atm  10-6 torr
- Roughning pump (mechanical), down to 10-3 torr
- High vacuum pump
Diffusion, turbomolecular, or cryopump
One of the key we think about is:

Mean free path

Mean free path (λ) = average distance a molecule travels

between collisions :
 Virtually every thin-film deposition and processing
method or technique employed to characterize and
measure the properties of films requires either a
vacuum or some sort of reduced-pressure ambient.
These techniques employ a flux of atoms or molecules
in a kind of vapor : physical vapor deposition, chemical
vapor deposition and variants of these.
 To understand these reduced pressure
environments a brief introduction to aspects of
vacuum science and technology is the starting point of
these lectures.
 The questions to be asked are:
1. If there is a random gas (normally low pressure), how many
molecules impinge on the substrate per second?

2. How do we organize a directed flux of molecules? (normally

at higher pressure)

3. How bad is the impact of a residual gas that should not

participate in the deposition (addressing question of vacuum
quality)?

4. What technique is required to achieve the necessary vacuum

quality and gas flows?

We begin with a discussion of the behavior of gases

in a closed system.
 KINETIC THEORY OF GASES

MOLECULAR VELOCITIES

A fundamental assumption is that the large number

of atoms or molecules making up the gas are in a
continuous state of random motion that is intimately
dependent on their temperature.
As they move, the gas particles collide with each other
as well as with the walls of the confining vessel. Just how
many molecule-molecule or molecule- wall impacts
occur depends on the concentration or pressure of the
gas.

In the perfect or ideal gas approximation there are no

attractive or repulsive forces between molecules. Rather, they
may be considered to behave like independent elastic spheres
separated from each other by distances that are large
compared to their size.
Two major phenomena will occur:
1.Inside the chamber: the gas molecules collide with other
molecules and make elastic scattering.
2.Close to the wall : There are scattering events with the wall.
For the moment we consider the inside of an extended
chamber only, allowing for an equilibrium without disturbing
walls.
The net result of the continual elastic collisions is that a
steady-state distribution of molecular velocities emerges
given by the celebrated Maxwell-Boltzmann formula.
Distribution function f(v) for hydrogen an aluminum.
 Pressure
Momentum transfer from the gas molecules to the container
walls gives rise to the forces that sustain the pressure in the
system. Kinetic theory shows that the gas pressure, P, is related
to the mean-square velocity of the molecules and thus,
alternately to their kinetic energy or temperature.
 Incident flux
A most important quantity that plays a role in both vacuum
science and vapor deposition is the gas impingement flux <I>. It
is a measure of the frequency with which molecules impinge on
or collide with a surface, and should be distinguished from the
previously discussed molecular collisions in the gas phase.
Consider the question of how long it takes for a surface to be
coated by a monolayer of gas molecules.
App: This is an issue of great importance when attempting to
deposit or grow films under extremely clean conditions. The
same concern arises during surface analysis of films, which is
performed at very low pressures in order to minimize surface
contamination arising from the vacuum chamber environment.
Here one must make certain that the analysis time is shorter
than that required for impurities to accumulate. This
characteristic contamination time, tc, is essentially the inverse
of the impingement flux.
 Gas Transport and pumping

- Gas flow regimes

The previous discussion on kinetic theory of gases

essentially assumed an isolated sealed system. Although
gas molecules certainly move, and with high velocity at
that, there is no net gas flow and no pressure gradients in
such a system. When gas does flow, however, it is
appropriate to distinguish between different regimes of
flow.
The mechanisms governing gas transport in pipes,
chambers etc. must necessarily depend on their dimensions
in relation with the mean free path.

Knudsen has introduced the Knudsen number Kn:

Kn = D /λ
D is the dimension of the pipe, orifice, chamber, etc.

Three regimes can be differentiated by λ /D :

Molecular flow λ /D > 1

Intermediate flow 1 > λ /D > 0.01
Viscous flow λ /D < 0.01
1. At one extreme we have free molecular flow, which occurs at

low gas densities. The chambers of high-vacuum evaporators and

analytical equipment, such as Auger electron spectrometers and
electron microscopes, operate within the molecular flow regime.
Here the mean distance between molecular collisions is large
compared to the dimensions of the system.

2. At higher pressures, however, the mean distance between

successive molecular collisions is reduced, and they predominate
relative to molecule-chamber wall collisions. In this case the so-
called viscous-flow regime is operative.
3. At low gas velocities the flow is laminar where layered,
parallel gas flow lines may be imagined. Under these conditions
the laminar flow velocity is zero at the walls of a tube, but it
increases to a maximum at the tube axis.

This relation tells whether scattering among molecules or

scattering with the walls are more important.
Dominant gas flow regimes as a function of system dimensions
and pressure