Course: Fundamentals of Vacuum Technology

Course Objectives

• Understand vacuum fundamentals essential to operating, maintaining, designing, or using vacuum systems.
• Know the working principles and limitations of pumps, gauges, and other vacuum system components.
• Understand the procedures for operating and performing preventive maintenance on vacuum systems, including analyzing and troubleshooting malfunctioning vacuum systems and leak detection.
• Learn the design concepts involved in matching equipment and instrumentation to applications.

Part I-Concept/calculations/gauging/pumps
Part II-Materials, valves and other components, system design considerations and maintenance

Instructors:
Timothy Gessert is a Senior Scientist and leader of the CdTe Research Team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. He received degrees in physics from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls (B.S.), Colorado School of Mines (M.S.), and University of Wales-College of Cardiff (Ph.D.) His more than 15 years of research experience at NREL have involved development of vacuum and photolithographic processes for the fabrication of transparent-conducting oxides, photovoltaic absorber layers, and electrical contact. He is currently working toward development of environmentally stable contacting systems for thin-film CdTe-based photovoltaic devices. He has published more than 70 papers and currently serves on the board of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the AVS.

Neil Peacock is a Development Engineer for the HPS Division of MKS Instruments, Inc., in Boulder, Colorado. In over 10 years with HPS, his responsibilities have included the design, testing, characterization, and calibration of thermal conductivity gauges and ionization gauges. He has helped in the training of HPS employees in vacuum technology and has presented invited and contributed papers on vacuum gauging. He received a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Colorado. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the AVS Vacuum Technology Division and is chair of the AVS Recommended Practices Sub-Committee on Ionization Gauges.

Course Materials:
Course notes

Cost:
Part I: $900; Students: $300
Parts I & II: $1500; Students: $600

Course: Characterization of Thin Films

Course Objectives:

• Know various techniques to characterize thin film materials.

• Learn imaging techniques such as optical microscopy, SEM, TEM and AFM.

• Learn structural and chemical properties such as XRD, profilometry, QCM and AES; EDAX, XPS/ESCA, SIMS and RBS.

• Understand and discuss electrical/magnetic properties

• Understand and discuss mechanical properties

Instructor:
Tom Christensen is a Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He is presently the chair of the national Education Committee of the AVS. He received his B.S. in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1979 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Physics from Cornell University. After several years as a member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque he joined the University of Colorado faculty in 1989. He has worked with vacuum technology, thin film technology and surface characterization since 1980 and has taught local AVS short courses since 1992.

Course Materials:
Course notes

Cost: $575; Students $150

Course: Reactive Sputtering & Deposition

Course Objectives:

• Understand reactive processes for doping films.
• Learn about deposition methods and applications.
• Know the methods for sputtering insulators: AC, RF, Pulsed DC, ion beams, etc.
• Understand process monitoring and control methods as well as process modeling.  

Instructor:
Joe Greene is the D.B. Willett Professor of Materials Science and Physics at the University of Illinois and the Tage Erlander Professor of Materials Physics at Linköping University, Sweden. The focus of his research has been the development of an atomic-level understanding of adatom/surface interactions during the dynamic process of vapor-phase crystal growth in order to controllably manipulate nanochemistry, nanostructure, and, hence, physical properties. His work has involved nanotechnology and film growth by all forms of sputter deposition, solid and gas-source MBE, UHV-CVD, MOCVD, and ALE. Joe has published more than 500 papers and review articles, 22 book chapters, and co-edited 4 books in the general areas of crystal growth, thin-film physics, and surface science. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of Thin Solid Films and past Editor of CRC Critical Reviews in Solid State and Materials Sciences. Joe is active in the AVS where he has served on the Trustees, twice as a member of the Board of Directors, as President of the society in 1989, and is currently Secretary.

Major awards include: the AVS John Thornton Award (1991), the Tage Erlander Award (1991) from the Swedish Natural Science Research Council, Fellow of the American Vacuum Society (1993), Technical Excellence Award from the Semiconductor Research Corporation (1994), 1996 DOE Award for Sustained Outstanding Research, 1998 David Adler Award in Materials Physics from the American Physical Society, 1998 Aristotle Award from SRC, Fellow of the American Physical Society (1998), AVS Distinguished Lecturer (1998-present), David Turnbull Award form the Materials Research Society (1999), 2001 International Scientist of the Year, Elected to the European Academy of Science in 2002, and Elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2003.

Course Materials:
Course notes

Cost: $575; Students $150

Course: Sputter Deposition

Course Objectives:

• Understand target effects and sputtered atoms.
• Learn about magnetron, diode, triode, and ion beam systems.
• Learn about DC and RF systems for targets and substrates.
• Understand reactive sputtering.
• Understand film properties and learn system parameters.

Instructor:
Joe Greene

Course Materials:
Course notes

Cost: $850; Students $300

Course: Thin Film Nucleation, Growth & Microstructural Evolution
Course Objectives:

• Understand the primary experimental variables and surface reaction paths controlling nucleation/growth kinetics and microstructural evolution during vapor-phase deposition.
• Develop an appreciation of the advantages/disadvantages of competing growth techniques.
• Learn how to better design film growth processes.

Instructor:
Joe Greene

Course Materials:
Course notes