Author: Robert Slater

SHADE has two 4-inch PVD sputtering guns, a load-lock and a rotating sample stage.  It is also outfitted with detailed diagnostics to enable time-resolved measurements of HIPIMS discharges.  It is powered by a Starfire Industries IMPULSE that is capable of cathode-voltage reversal.  It has been used to make multi-layer mirrors, and do reactive sputtering experiments.

The company COMET makes advanced RF power supplies capable of fast-turn on and matching.   We will be using one of their supplies in an ICP configuration and measuring the time-resolved plasma conditions to correlate the to the settings of the power supply.

This is a PVD sputtering tool manufactured by the Material Research Corporation (MRC).  It uses a 14 inch diameter target and a rotating magnet pack.   We have outfitted it with a variety of HIPIMS power supplies, used a variety of magnet packs, diagnostics and internal ionization coils.

ECAP is a microwave-powered atmospheric-pressure plasma torch.  It has three zones where reactants can be introduced to the plasma.  In this way it can make a variety of coatings, which would normally require a vacuum system to produce.

When a femtosecond laser pulse hits a surface, the power is incredible.  It is so intense that it instantly turns the surface into a plasma even before the laser pulse ends.  This means there is a chance that the laser light is converted to surface plasmons, and they will deposit their energy as a constructively interfered wave.  This leads to ripples on the surface with dimensions near the wavelength of the initial laser.   This texturing can be used for photonic properties, or to alter the wetting of the surface.  We learned that such ripples can prevent wetting of metal surfaces by lithium.

XCEED is an XTS-13-35 EUV source made by Xtreme Technologies.  The same model source was used to make the very first chips that used EUV lithography in INTEL’s MET tool.  It uses a discharge-produced plasma from a Z-pinch and puts 5 J of energy into the plasma in 5ns.    This device will be re-purposed to study warm-dense matter in a project funded by Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The Mock Entry Module for East (MEME), a 1.2m x 1.2m x 1.2m vacuum system, is a replica of the energy module for the EAST tokamak in China and is used for molten lithium experiments and diagnostic development.

The experiment will involve the design and implementation of a vacuum oven to produce clean samples of SnLi alloys at multiple mass ratios. The samples’ material properties will then be examined, which include surface wetting and vapor pressure.

I am currently researching how tin ions are stopped as they travel through hydrogen plasma. Tin plasmas are generated during the production of extreme ultraviolet light (EUV) when molten microdroplets of tin are struck by a CO2 laser. The contamination of critical vessel components with tin is a serious concern for ASML, the project sponsor, and they are interested in learning more about how ions from the tin plasma are stopped by the background gases and plasmas in their vessel. I am currently using an ion beam installed on the chamber to measure how an ion beam attenuates as it travels through both hydrogen gas as well as hydrogen plasma generated by a helicon plasma source.