Thermal Evaporation System for Thin Film Deposition


Thermal Evaporator System

Thermal evaporation is one of the common techniques of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) for thin film deposition on the surface of various objects. It is the simplest of the PVD techniques. A thermal evaporation system uses vacuum technology for applying coatings or thin films of pure materials on the object surface for different purposes. A resistive heat source is used for evaporating a solid material in a vacuum chamber to form thin films.

Thermal Evaporator

In a Thermal Evaporator System, the material is heated until vapor pressure is produced and its surface atoms have sufficient energy to leave the surface. At this point, the free atoms in the form of evaporated material, or vapor stream traverse the vacuum chamber at thermal energy (less than 1 eV). This vapor stream hits the substrate material positioned above the evaporating material to deposits a coating or thin film.
Thermal Evaporator 


 Using the thermal evaporation technique, an operator can adjust the system on different parameters to achieve desired results for thickness, uniformity, adhesion strength, stress, grain structure, optical or electrical properties, etc. Some common custom adjustments that a thermal evaporator offers: the ability to hold any shape and size substrate, the capability of multiple evaporation sources, thin-film thickness monitor, pressure adjustment, and cross-contamination shield.




Materials used for Thin Film Deposition in Thermal Evaporator System

The thermal evaporation system can be used for single layer or multi-layer thin films of metals, oxides & nitrides of non-metals, and organic OLEDs. The material to be applied can be in the pure atomic form or can be in the molecular form such as oxides and nitrides. Some common materials used for thin-film depositions are aluminum, chromium, gold, silver, copper, indium, and many more. The substrate on which the thin film is deposited can be semiconductor wafers, solar cells, optical components, or any other material depending on the industrial requirement. 

Some common uses of Thermal Evaporation
  • Applying electrical contacts on a substrate by depositing metal thin films such as silver or aluminum.
  • Deposit metallic contact layers for thin film devices such as solar cells, thin-film transistors,   and OLEDs
  • Depositing thick indium layers for wafer bonding


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