Dual Ion Beam Sputtering (DIBS) of Metal-Oxides with Precise Stoichiometric Control

Transparent oxides in the visible wavelength with good electric properties have many useful applications, such as for smart windows, optical switches, infrared sensors, flexible electronic devices, or thermochromic applications.

Examples of such films include:
– TixOy
– VxOy
– InxOy
– WOx
– CoxOy

The scia Coat 200 and scia Coat 300 DIBS systems are capable of sputtering such films on up to 200mm and 300mm wafers, respectively. These films can be sputtered from a metal target and reactively combined with oxygen flowed as a background gas, or flowed through the assist ion beam source with or without the plasma on. The diagram below shows this arrangement. These processing options along with sputter ion beam source parameters and gas flows adjustments allows the flexibility to tune the metal oxide films’ stoichiometry for desired electrical, chemical, or optical properties. The system is built with the quality for repeatable R/D or high-uptime production environments, depending on the configured handling arrangement.

Principle of DIBS:

Examples of such films:
– TixOy
– VxOy
– InxOy
– WOx
– CoxOy
– and others…

Specifications:
– Resistivity and thickness uniformity = <1%
– Repeatability = <1%