Date:
8:30am-4:30pm, Wednesday, May 20, 2015, Marriott Uptown, Albuquerque, NM
Topical Outline:
- Mechanical, electrical, and optical properties of thin films
- Process parameters that affect film properties
- Gauge and instrument calibration
- Properties of substrate surfaces
- Measurement of film stress
- Detection of contamination
- Introduction to surface analysis techniques (Auger, ESCA, SIMS, FTIR)
- Substrate preparation and cleaning
Course Description
Vacuum deposited thin films are used for optical coatings, electrically-conductive coatings, semiconductor wafer fabrication, and a wide variety of other uses. They may be deposited on glass, plastic, semiconductors, and other materials. Usually, a vacuum deposition process produces durable, adherent films of good quality. But what do you do when things go wrong? Not all films can be deposited on all substrate materials. Sometimes films peel off or crack. Other times they are cloudy, absorbing, scattering, or have other unacceptable properties.
This short course will teach you about techniques and tools that can be used to identify the source of the problems, correct the process, and get back into production. It will also help in learning how to develop new processes and products. The course is designed for process engineers and technicians, quality control personnel, thin film designers, and maintenance staff.
Who Should Attend?
This course is intended for process and equipment engineers, system operators, maintenance personnel, and others involved in thin film deposition processes.
Instructor: Gary S. Ash, President of Castle Brook Corporation, Dartmouth
Gary S. Ash is President of Castle Brook Corporation, Dartmouth, Massachusetts. The company provides technical and management consulting services for the vacuum and cryogenics industry. He has had more than 35 years of experience in vacuum systems, pumps and other components, deposition processes ranging from evaporation to sputtering to molecular beam epitaxy. Engineering experience includes equipment and process design, manufacturing process development, materials and failure analysis, and applications support. In addition, he has had extensive experience in product strategy, development, and manufacturing planning for industrial products and services. He was previously employed by the CTI-Cryogenics division of Helix Technology Corporation, ASTeX, RIBER division of Instruments SA, Optical Coating Laboratory Inc., Spectrum Systems division of Barnes Engineering Co., AAI Corporation, and American Electronic Laboratories. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in optical physics from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Course Materials
Course Notes