Physical Vapour Control System
In-situ real-time optoelectronic process control system for physical vapour
Deposition equipment, allowing precise control of material deposition and etching. This system replaces expensive existing technology with an accurate, user-friendly and cost effective control system, easily retro-fitted to existing equipment and requiring no consumables for use.
PVD (Physical vapour deposition) is a technique used in a variety of industries including semiconductors/microelectronics and cutting tool manufacture. It is predicted that the market for PVD equipment will reach US$8.4 billion by 2010, growing at 10.4% per annum. The need for adequate process control in these markets is clear with a current lack of such systems resulting in sub-optimal equipment functioning, unacceptably low yields and process inefficiencies.
By providing a cost-effective, retrofit solution for PVD equipment, this invention solves the need for precise control of these processes allowing more complex production techniques to be used, higher yields to be achieved and substantial cost savings through improved efficiency. While a number of process control systems are on the market, this invention has significant advantages over such products including:
- Ease of installation
- Self-calibration
- User friendly software and ease of operator training
- Ability to generate reliable data in non-ideal measurement conditions
- In situ rather than remove monitoring
- Relatively low unit cost
- No consumables required
- Able to be retrofitted to existing equipment.
This system was developed by the WA Centre of Excellence for Micro Photonic Systems at ECU. A pre-production prototype is currently in development and the inventors hope to attract the interest of PVD equipment manufacturers while pursuing the market for retrofitting of this system to existing PVD equipment.