Chamber Uniformity and Mask Design

Chamber Modeling

The best coating designs and most finely tuned processes will go to waste if parts are not evenly coated. Uniformity issues are pernicious across the thin film industry, causing poor yields, wasted product, and wasted money. Such issues are often treated in an ad-hoc or "trial by error" manner, taking weeks or even months to develop complex masking and fixturing. I believe in a simulation-based approach, in which chambers and substrates are precisely modeled and computational power is leveraged to develop the best possible geometry for high yield. I can provide the following services:

• Reverse engineering to determine vapor plume dynamics.

• Modeling uniformity on custom substrates (basic shapes, complex aspheres, faceted parts) including self-masking.

• Modeling uniformity across a carousel or planetary fixture based on source/target geometry.

Mask Design

Unique optics require unique masking to ensure good coating uniformity. With an accurate model of both chamber and substrates, I can leverage optimization algorithms to develop custom mask designs to make sure you can utilize as much of the chamber as possible while achieving solid, uniform coatings.