AVS 49th International Symposium
    Thin Films Monday Sessions
       Session TF-MoM

Paper TF-MoM5
A New Dual Ion Beam Sputter Deposition System for the Production of Complex Optical Telecommunication Filters

Monday, November 4, 2002, 9:40 am, Room C-101

Session: Optical Thin Films
Presenter: D. Siegfried, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
Authors: D. Siegfried, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
C. Montcalm, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
R. Blacker, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
D. Burtner, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
J.D. Deakins, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
A. Dummer, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
T.A. Erguder, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
J. George, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
C. Heizer, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
I. Kameyama, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
S.M. Lee, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
D. Walters, Veeco Instruments, Inc.
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Dual-ion-beam sputter deposition (DIBSD) is a technique used to produce various coatings for telecommunication applications in the near-infrared wavelength region (1300-1600 nm) such as anti-reflection coatings, low loss laser mirrors, dense wavelength division multiplexing filters, and gain flattening filters. This deposition technology benefits from inherently stable deposition rates and produces dense, bulk-like films that are stable in a wide range of environmental conditions. However, compared to competing technologies such as ion-assisted electron-beam evaporation or magnetron sputtering, this technology typically has lower deposition rates and limited deposition uniformity over large coating areas. These two main limitations have been addressed by developing an entirely new DIBSD system. The deposition rates in this new system are >0.5 nm/s for Ta@sub 2@O@sub 5@ and >1.0 nm/s for SiO@sub 2@ over a 300 mm diameter substrate, which are now comparable to those obtained in electron beam evaporation systems used for similar applications. The increased rates have been achieved with several process and hardware changes, while preserving the favorable optical and physical properties of the films generally produced by DIBSD. Specific examples include the use of reactive deposition processes and the development of a new high current ion source. Simultaneously, the chamber geometry was optimized to achieve uniform films, both in terms of thickness and index, while the overall stability and robustness of the process was increased by judicious placement of all critical components. Finally, improvements in the vacuum pumping system have reduced the pumpdown time by a factor of 2 and have eliminated the need for lengthy cryopump regenerations. We describe these major improvements that have led to large yields and reduced production cost for optical filters.