Products
Sputter Coater and Carbon/Thermal Evaporator – DSCT-T
for stable and repeatable thin-film deposition
Turbo-Pumped High-Vacuum Hybrid Coater
The sputter coater and carbon/thermal evaporator – DSCT-T is configured as a sputter coater, carbon coater, and thermal evaporator with three interchangeable heads in one instrument suitable for scanning electron microscope (SEM) sample preparation and deposition of a wide range of noble/oxidizing materials (Deposition material table) such as gold (Au), platinum/palladium (Pt/Pd) alloy, silver (Ag), chromium (Cr), tungsten (W), iridium (Ir), etc., together with thermal evaporation of different sources like metals or carbon fiber/rod to coat on samples with non-conductive or poorly conductive surface for electron microscopy imaging or other applications.
Moreover, the thermal head can be used to clean TEM and SEM apertures. This high-vacuum SEM coater equipped with a turbomolecular pump offers high quality uniform films with fine grain sizes, suitable for specimens that require high-resolution and high-quality characterization such as FE-SEM, EDS/WDS, TEM, and EBSD.
The DSCT-T, sputter coater and carbon/thermal evaporator with a 2” magnetron cathode, is supplied with a high voltage switching DC power supply for sputtering and a high-current power supply for carbon evaporation and thermal evaporation, hence could be used for research areas concerning different thin film applications such as micro and nano electronic and sample preparation.
The full-automatic sputter and carbon coating processes allows easy, precise, and repeatable performance. The maximum size of the substrates in this model could be 4 inches.
- High vacuum level with built-in turbomolecular pump 90 L/s (Leybold)
- Two stage rotary vane backing pump (Diaphragm and scroll pump)
- 80 W sputtering switching DC power supply
- 500 W switching DC power supply for carbon fiber deposition
- 2 kW high-current DC power supply for thermal evaporation
- Carbon fiber evaporation head
- Thermal evaporation head
- Quartz crystal thickness monitor with precision of 1 nm and resolution of 1 Å
- One 2-inch magnetron cathode
- Automatic venting valve
- Sample rotation, height, and tilt adjustable
- Planetary sample holder (Optional)
- Electronic shutter
- Easy-to-change specimen stages (Rotation stage as standard)
- Two-year warranty
- CE conformity
- Vac Coat products are covered worldwide by both public and product Liability Insurance in case any property damage or personal injury happens caused by the Vac Coat systems.
- Intuitive touch screen to control the coating process and rapid data input
- User friendly software, updatable via network
- Repeatable and programmable coating process in the automatic mode
- Semi-full automatic sputtering deposition process in timed or thickness modes
- Semi-full automatic carbon fiber/rod deposition process
- Automatic carbon fiber coating in flash or pulsed modes
- Automatic carbon rod coating in pulsed or ramped modes
- Records and plots coating parameters graphs
- Storing coating recipes for repeatable depositions
- Fine grain structural deposition of carbon and metals (Noble and oxidizing) thin films for SEM, FE-SEM, EDX, and TEM sample preparation
- Nano and microelectronic
- Conductive layers
- Thin film sensors
- Solar cells
- Optical components
- GLAD sputtering
- TEM grid plasma treatment for improved hydrophilicity (Optional)
- Suitable for deposition of metals, carbon fiber, and rod (Optional)
- Precise control over coating rate and pressure to achieve finer grain structures
- Automatic control of the cathode’s temperature to protect the lifetime of the magnets
- Rapid data input through fully automatic touch screen panel
- Real-time plot of coating parameters
- Max. consuming power: 2 kW
- Carbon evaporation heads for fiber or rod
- High current power supply
- Quartz crystal sensor
- Planetary sample rotation stage
- Spare cylindrical vacuum glass chamber
- Sputtering targets
- Sealing gaskets
- Carbon fiber source
- Thermal evaporation sources (Boat/basket)
- Glow discharge plasma
- 4-inch sample holder with gear offset
Carbon Evaporation
The mini size coating system model DSCT-T, DSCT with Thermal Evaporator, can coat carbon layers to produce uniform thin films on different surfaces using carbon fiber or carbon rod (Optional).
Pulsed Carbon Fiber Evaporation
The DSCT-T coater is able to perform pulsed carbon fiber evaporation. Short pulses provide more controlled deposition and significantly reduces the amount of debris associated with traditional carbon deposition.
Carbon Rod Evaporation (Optional)
The DSCT-T could be equipped with carbon rod evaporator head (Optional). For this case an external 0-100 A high current power supply should be used instead of the internal high current power supply which is designed for carbon fiber evaporation.
Thermal Evaporation
The DSCT-T, sputter coater and carbon/thermal evaporator, is equipped with a thermal head for evaporation of metals with low evaporation temperature such as gold, aluminum, silver, etc., as well as TEM apertures cleaning.
One thermal source (Boat or basket) with a length of 4-10 cm can be fit on the thermal evaporation head. The height of the thermal source from the sample holder is adjustable. Thermal evaporation provides a wide range of applications, such as fabrication of metal films, thin-film sensors, optical components, nano and microelectronic devices, and solar cells.
- Dimensions: 520 × 620 × 480 mm (H × W × D)
- Weight: 36 Kg (Without backing pump)
- Vacuum Chamber Dimension:
- Borosilicate Glass, 170 mm Dia. × 50 mm Height
- SST, 170 mm Dia. × 90 mm Height
- Display Screen: 7” Diagonal (16:9) 800 × 480 High Color- Graphic TFT- LCD
- Data Transfer: USB Port – For Transferring the data and graph to PC
- Target Dimension: 1 Disc, Diameter ranging 50-56 mm, Thickness 0.1~3 mm (The preferred Thickness is less than 1 mm)
- Carbon Fiber: Carbon fiber thread diameter: 0.8 mm (Thicker fiber is not recommended)
- Carbon Rod: Carbon rod diameter: 3.2 mm
- Evaporator Filament:
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Boat: max. 1 mm thickness, max. 8 mm width, 30-65 mm length
- Basket: Single wire with 0.5-0.8 mm Dia.
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- Sample Holder Dimension:
- Standard holder with 60 mm Dia., can contain:
- 23 × 9.6 mm stubs or
- 14 × 12.7 mm stubs or
- 5 × 19 mm stubs
- Sample holder with 100 mm Dia. with Offset gear box can contain 40 × 12.7 mm stubs (Optional)
- Standard holder with 60 mm Dia., can contain:
- Chamber’s Lid: Made of Aluminum/SST that can locate 1 cathode or triple carbon fiber (thread) holder or a rod holder on it.
- Specification: Crystal thickness gauge with sensor, Gold/Silver coated crystal quartz for Sputter and Thermal/Carbon deposition thickness monitoring, oscillator
- Resolution: ±1 Angstrom
- Accuracy: ±1 Nanometer
- Turbo Molecular Pump: Pumping Speed of 90 L/s, (Leybold)
- Backing Pump: Two-stage rotary vane / diaphragm pump / scroll pump
- Pressure Gauge: Leybold (Ionivac model); Full Range
- Final Vacuum: < 8 × 10-6 Torr
- Sputtering Vacuum Range: 5 × 10-2 ~ 5 × 10-3
- Sputtering: Continuous Sputtering, Time, and Thickness dependent
- Carbon Coating:
- Pulsed and Flash mode carbon fiber coating
- Pulsed or Ramped mode carbon rod coating
- Metal Evaporation: Small amounts of metal loaded in the boat/basket is evaporated
- Glow Discharge Plasma (Optional):
- TEM grid plasma treatment
- Enhancing surface hydrophilicity
- Gas: Argon as a carrier gas with %99.999 purity
- Electric Power Supply:
- DC: 80 W switching DC power supply
- HC: 24V, 20A (Carbon fiber evaporation)
- HC: 12V, 100A (Metal and Carbon rod evaporation)
- Control of Argon supply: Electronic leak valve
- Shutter: 1 piece
- Electrical Inlet: Inlet: 220-240 V, 50/60 Hz; or 110 V, 50/60 Hz *
* Single-phase AC power with appropriate earth connection is required.
Clean Vacuum
The vacuum chamber is made up of stainless steel and a portable cylindrical Pyrex. The DSCT-T is fitted with an internally mounted 90 L/s turbo molecular pump, backed by a 6 m3/h two-stage rotary vane pump. It introduces clean vacuum without oil contamination which normally exists with ordinary diffusion pump.
Touch Screen Control
DSCT-T is equipped with a 7” colored touch-screen panel and full automatic control using a user-friendly software to control and adjust the deposition process data. The vacuum and coating sequence information can be observed as digital data or curves on the touch screen. The last 300 coatings information is saved on the history page.
Sample Holder Stages
The DSCT-T can be equipped with different sample stage configurations depending on the user requirements. The standard sample stage is rotatable with adjustable height and angle and can be changed easily. The rotary planetary sample stage is a good choice for uniform coating of porous specimens (Optional).
Newly Designed Sample Holder
A new 4-inch rotating sample holder with an optional gear offset is designed for the system to increase the deposition area and the number of coating stubs in a run.
