Ion Beam Deposition (IBD)

Ion Beam Deposition is a versatile and flexible thin film deposition technique that offers reliable, high quality and high performance coatings, finding applications notably in infrared devices and high power lasers, for both R&D and the Production market.

How does IBD work?

A beam or energetic ions bombars and sputters material off a target, thereby forming a plume of material that gets deposited on the surface of the sample.

Ion beam deposited thin-film layer properties, such as refractive index, absorption, scattering, adhesion and packing density, can be finely tuned by varying beam parameters such as beam flux and energy, platen orientation relative to incoming materials and gas flow.

Highlights

Independent control of beam energy and ion density
Precise deposited thickness and fine control of film properties
Excellent uniformity and repeatability
Low operating pressure for higher mean free path, higher film purity, film more dense
Reduced porosity and included gas in deposited films
Substrate temperature control between 15°C and 300°C
Pre-clean capability for better film adhesion
Ultra-smooth coating with low scattering, added surface roughness <nm scale

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Modes of Operation

Ion Beam Deposition is one of three ways of depositing thin-film using Ion Beam Sputtering: IBD, RIBD and AIBD.

Reactive Ion Beam Deposition (RIBD)
Assisted Ion Beam Deposition (AIBD)

Reactive Ion Beam Deposition (RIBD)

Reactive gases, like N₂ or O₂ are injected inside the chamber while the film is being deposited to adjust the stoichiometry of oxides or nitrides.

Ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD)

An assist source can also be used in conjunction with the deposition source to modify the properties of the film as it’s growing.

Features & Benefits
Hardware

Key Benefits

High quality thin film with ultra low contamination
Unmatched batch uniformity and process reproducibility
In-situ monitoring and closed-loop feedback control capability for enhanced repeatability and fine control of thin film properties
Patented high speed substrate holder (up to 500RPM) equipped with a White Light Optical Monitor (WLOM) design for very accurate in-situ optical film control, noticeably for high-power laser devices
Very low surface film roughness
Low temperature and operating pressure deposition

Deposition Ion Source Features

Deposition ion source: 15cm, 13.56 MHz driven
Gas inlet through source
Multiple targets with rotating shutter
Target and grid set to maximize deposition rate and film purity
Rotating and tiltable high speed substrate holder

	Ionfab 300
Ion deposition source	150mm
Deposited area	Up to 200mm
Number of targets	Up to 4 targets
Platen size	Up to 8 inch wafer
End product detection	Dual Xtal monitors or WLOM
Platen rotation	Up to 500rpm
Platen tilt angle	-90ºC (load position) to +65ºC
Platen heat	Embedded heaters up to 300ºC
Platen cooling	Helium
Assist or pre-clean source	150mm and 300mm RF ion source