Plasmatherm 790

The Plasmatherm 790 is a dual chamber parallel plate tool. The left chamber is configured for reactive ion etching (RIE) while the right chamber is configured for plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The RIE chamber is significantly slower than other etchers available in the lab, allowing greater depth control on thin films. The PECVD chamber is also designed to deposit at a lower rate than the GSI PECVD and P5000 PECVD - the smaller building blocks help improve film quality. This tool has almost no material restrictions, allowing a wide variety of processing.

Plasmatherm 790
Equipment Details
Technology	RIE
Materials Restriction	Metals
Material Processed	Si, SiO2
Mask Materials	PR, SiO2
Gases Used	Ar, CH4, CHF3, CF4, H2, O2, SF6
Equipment Manual
Overview	System Overview
Operating Procedure	SOP
Supported Processes	Supported Processes
User Processes	User Processes
Maintenance	Maintenance Overview

Contents

Announcements

• [2014-09-25] - Added 500 sccm Helium MFC to PECVD chamber.

Capabilities

• Wide variety of materials processed
• Wide variety of gases available
• Generally slower etch rates <1000 Å/min
• Generally slow PECVD deposition rates <10 Å/sec

System Overview

Hardware Details

• RIE Gases
  • Ar - 139 sccm
  • CH₄ - 18 sccm
  • CHF₃ - 50 sccm
  • CF₄ - 42 sccm
  • H₂ - 101 sccm
  • O₂ - 100 sccm
  • SF₆ - 52 sccm
• PECVD Gases
  • CH₄ - 72 sccm
  • CF₄O₂ - 420 sccm
  • He - 500 sccm
  • N₂ - 2000 sccm
  • N₂O - 497 sccm
  • NH₃ - 3 sccm
  • SiH₄ - 6 sccm

• Pressure
  • RIE: 5 - 10 mTorr to 1 Torr
  • PECVD: 50 - 500 mTorr to 2 Torr

• Chuck
  • PECVD: Heated Platen: 200°C - 350°C

• RF
  • 400 W 13.56 MHz RF Source

Substrate Requirements

• RIE
  • Up to 3 100 mm (4") wafers
  • Pieces don't require mounting
• PECVD
  • 1 150 mm (6") wafer
  • 2 100 mm (4") wafers
  • Several pieces

Material Restrictions

The Plasmatherm 790 is designated as a metals class tool. Below is a list of approved and restricted materials for the Plasmatherm 790. "Approved" means the material is allowed in the tool under normal circumstances. "Not Allowed" means the material may never be used in the tool. If a material is not listed, it may be possible to use the material under certain conditions. Please contact a tool engineer via the helpdesk ticket system for any material requests or questions.

Left Chamber

Right Chamber

The right chamber has the same restrictions as the left except polymers (such as photoresist) are not allowed unless their melting temperature is significantly higher than the process temperature (please create a helpdesk ticket for this).

Supported Processes

There are several processes for this tool supported by the LNF, which are described in more detail on the Processes page.

In addition to these, this tool has a number of user-created recipes for etching a wide variety of materials. Some of these recipes are documented on LNF User:Plasmatherm 790 User Processes. If you are curious if your material can be processed in this tool, please contact the tool engineers via the helpdesk ticket system.

Standard Operating Procedure

Plasmatherm 790 SOP

Checkout Procedure

1. Read through the Standard Operating Procedure
2. Complete the SOP quiz.
3. Complete the training request form here.
4. Create a helpdesk ticket requesting training.
5. A tool engineer will schedule a time for initial training.
6. Practice with your mentor or another authorized user until you are comfortable with tool operation.
7. Schedule a checkout session with a tool engineer via the helpdesk ticket system. If this checkout is successful, the engineer will authorize you on the tool.