Christopher Moore is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Coastal Carolina University. He lives in Myrtle Beach, SC with his wife and two children.Last semester I had a student working with me on building a sputter deposition chamber. We spent a lot of time waiting for parts, but we did manage to get some very necessary pieces together. Andy and I designed and fabricated a collar system for supporting the weight of the rather large 6-way cross we will be using for the vacuum chamber. Here is a picture:
The support collar consists of all the shiny aluminum on the black table that clamps around the stainless steel chamber and holds it upright. Since I took this picture, I have mounted the sputter gun on the left side flange. Under the table is a small (and brand-new!) turbo-pumping station with an oil-free diaphram backing pump. I was able to scrounge around the department and find a nice little pump that we will use to circulate cool water through the sputter head to maintain reasonable temperatures.
I already have a student lined up to work on this system next semester. We first have to design and fabricate a sample stage. The electrical feedthrough on the right flange is intentionally there for sample heating via DC resistive heat. After that, we begin calibration by sputtering aluminum films and measuring their thicknesses.
There is a purpose behind the shiny toys, of course. By the end of the next academic year we will be growing semiconductor nanowires in aluminum oxide porous films. I even have money to staff my lab for this purpose next summer.