Market / Customer Need
What it is, what it does, why initiated.
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Nimbus are involved in the manufacture of mastering systems for the CD and DVD industry. Their equipment produces the data ‘masters’ from which the disks are moulded. Gencoa were approached to design and develop a new magnetic system and then complete magnetron to replace their currents suppliers product.
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Project Details
What project involves R&D, design, testing ….Benefits – faster, smarter, better…
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The first stage of the project involved using the existing magnetron design and generating a magnetic system that could re-create the same uniformity on the master disk without changing anything of the system geometry, hardware or process requirements. The existing drawings had to be assessed – system drawings were clear but only partial drawings for the magnetrons existing. Simulation code was written to perform the uniformity analysis for the system geometry.
A follow-on project involved the design and manufacture of a new magnetron to replace the current model. The new magnetron had to have the capability to incorporate a magnetic array to sputter both NiV and pure Ni (ferro-magnetic) without modification.
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Initial Requirements
Materials, performance specs, standards, testing..
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The source had to create ±5% over a 200mm diameter disk. The plasma impedance had to match the current case to avoid process changes.
The current target erosion was analysed and a magnetic field and coating uniformity simulation performed until the correct result was obtained. |
Difficulties Experienced
What uncertainty, materials, process, testing, cost implications
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As the magnetron design was pre-existing and the system was in the field, the new magnetics had to be compatible with the limited space available, hence the preferred design could not be used. Uncertainty was significant as it was a new project and multiple assumptions made. During the second stage of the project more modelling was required to no produce the same uniformity from a much higher strength magnetic field in order to sputter a 6mm thick Nickel target.
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Innovation
New innovative features – over state of the art for Gencoa / industry
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As the process was already in world-wide production the simulation and testing had to achieve the results very quickly and without risks to the manufacturing company and the customers in the field. Gencoa wrote the software code to simulate the coating uniformity in this chamber geometry which replicated the real situation.
A novel aspect was a target life-off system that could raise and lower the 6mm thick Nickel target and over-come the strong magnetic attractions between the target and the magnetron. This had to be achieved in a very confined design space.
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Technology Improvement
How project has advanced tech / scientific knowledge
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The project successfully validated the powerful nature of the simulation work and software developed. It showed that a computer based simulation could replicate the actual conditions and successfully implement an upgrade to an already established process and customer base.
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