AJA Ion Mill
Writeup on using the Ion-Mill:
The image below shows the panel in Ion Mill. You only paly with the level labelled MAIN CHAMBER. DO NOT TOUCH ANY OTHER BUTTON/LEVER.
Use the light and the glass panel on the chamber to check if there already a sample in the chamber. If there is one, send out an email on the mailing group or MRC slack to make sure you don't stop someone else’s process. Once you confirm, pull the main chamber lever down to vent the chamber.
The pressure on the Inficon pressure sensor reads 760 mTorr once its fully vented.
Unscrew the sample holder and stick your sample onto the carrier wafer using kapton/double sided aluminum tape.
Once the sample is secure, screw the sample holder back onto the chamber.
Close and hold the door, while pulling the main chamber lever up to start pumping the chamber.
The pressure reading starts decreasing exponentially. If you notice the pressure decrease by 0.1, pull the level down (vent), wait and back up (pump) to make it pump faster. Most likely a weak vacuum seal.
Let it pump for a minimum of an hour. Then, load your recipe and run the process.
Once the etch finishes, you need to turn on Ar gas flow (see figure below) to let the filament cool down to ensure the longevity of the filament used. The thumb rule if allow the flow for at least half your etch duration. You also need to HOME (-90deg) your stage as it goes to 0deg (or whatever you set it to) for etch.
Once you turn off the Ar gas flow, pull the main chamber lever down to vent the chamber and unmount your sample.
Hi all, this is a small write-up on EPD (end point detection) in the Ion Mill.
While mounting the sample onto the chamber, make sure the aluminum foil has been removed from the detector.
Once the chamber has been pumped down for more than an hour, turn on the controller for the EPD detector. Its the green button on the white panel labeled HIDEN ANALYTICAL.
Open the software MASoft7 Professional.
Create or load your appropriate .epd file.
Once everything is setup, click on the green clock button in the software. A check appears on the green button once clicked.
Run the process on the ion mill, while monitoring the elemental signals on the MASoft screen. The region around the peak of the signal is when the layer seems to be etched. Detailed metrology needs to be done to locate the exact point where the layer is etched. This also varies with element being monitored.
Stop the process on the ion mill when done.
Stop the process on the EPD software.
Turn off the green switch in the Hardware panel (HIDEN ANALYTICAL).
You can now turn on the Ar gas to cool down the filaments in the chamber.
WARNING: NEVER TURN ON THE Ar GAS FLOW WHILE THE EPD DETECTOR CONTROLLER IS ON. IT’LL DAMAGE THE DETECTOR.
You can now play around with the graphs axes and save them as needed.
Once you vent the chamber and unload your sample, make sure to cover the detector with aluminum foil before pumping the chamber down as in Fig 3.
In case you turn off the AJA software or click on emergency stop button by mistake:
Open the software if closed.
Turn on the pressure control to 'OPENED' and change the Ar flow STPT to 50 as shown in Fig 1.
Also check if the settings on the Ion mill screen look different from the default values in Fig 1.
Should be good to go else contact the tool in-charge immediately.
Contact the tool in-charge regardless to let them know this happened.
Typical 600V settings -
Etch Recipes -