CHA Industries High Vacuum Coater
The Flex Tech Alliance funded CHA Industries of Fremont California to develop and
build a high vacuum R2R coater for the CAMM. The system's modular design allows changes
from one type of vacuum process method to another, with locations to handle up to
five sources, with three sputter guns. The geometry also incorporates a large bay
to allow for custom source development/experimentation. The system incorporates a
variety of features to address concerns of defect generation, particle generation,
and contamination. This system is used for a variety of materials and processes. First,
metals and ITO thin films will be sputter deposited. Thin film metal deposition will
allow ready qualification of the coater. Further, metals such as aluminum are readily
etched with wet chemicals, and will be used to develop the lithography patterning
process, and enable some early passive circuitry development. Sputtered ITO is a well
established thin film process required for most display applications and must be developed
on "soft" substrate materials. Finally, thin film silicon is intended for use in development
of thin film transistors with silicon-based dielectrics ubiquitous in both s thin
film electronics and optical coatings.