Sputter Coater 328 UHR – Ultra High Resolution Sputter System includes a unique on-axis twin sputter source sputtering of metal without breaking the vacuum. The twin source design rotates at 180 degrees placing position and the other sputter head on-axis for coating. A shutter is incorporated for target conditioning and the power supply supplies up to 80mA continuously variable sputter current. A large selection of sputter targets we suggest W, Pt, Cr or Ir. The programmable Turbo Pump on the 328 Systems can be optimized for both ultra high vacuum or for load lock system enables quick sample transfer without breaking the near UHV vacuum. The Eucentric selecting the desired coating angle with the indexed angle control handle outside the vacuum chamber.

The Cressington Sputter Coater 208HR – High Resolution now offers real solutions to the problems encountered when coating difficult minimize the effects of grain size the 208HR offers a full range of coating materials and gives unprecedented deposition conditions. To minimize charging effects the 208HR stage design and wide range of operating of the uniformity and conformity of the coating. The HIGH/LOW chamber configuration allows easy adjustment.

 Cressington 108 carbon coater on the other hand, uses a novel evaporation supply. It boasts of several advantages and user-friendly features such that the current and voltage are monitored by sensor wires in the head and the evaporation source is controlled as part of a feedback loop. Also, the supply gives the conventional rod fed source unusual stability and reproducibility. It also offers low power consumption and the source shows exceptional re-starting characteristics. Anther advantage is that the evaporation source can be operated in “pulse” or “continuous” modes.

The Cressington 108carbon/A offers the choice of either manual or automatic evaporation. In automatic mode the evaporation source operates at a programmed voltage for a programmed time. The programmer is simply adjusted and displays voltage and time digitally. If preferred to be used in manual mode, the unique Cressington supply can be operated in “pulse” or “continuous” with the output voltage set using the rotary control.

The Cressington Carbon Coater 108 also has a modular desktop design which combines carbon control unit, pumping system and thickness monitor into an area of only 42cm x 60cm (16″ x 24″). The desktop pumping system is fully integrated using a quick release all metal coupling system. The compact high speed rotary pump (30sec to 0.1mb) is mounted on an anti-vibration table with a desktop base.

In view of its pumping system, this can be easily extended into a dual pumping system to accommodate the Cressington Sputter Coater along side a Cressington Carbon Coater. Both 108 carbon coaters can be fitted with a high resolution thickness monitor in which the resolution is better than 0.1nm for carbon. Careful use of monitor and evaporation controller gives better than 5% reproducibility of coating thickness in the useful 15nm – 25nm range.

Plasma Cleaner is used in the process of plasma cleaning which involves the elimination of impurities and contaminants from surfaces. It is done through the use of an energetic plasma or dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma created from gaseous species, which uses gases such as argon and oxygen. Mixtures are used too, such as air and hydrogen/nitrogen.

Plasma cleaning is beneficial as it removes organic contaminants by chemical reaction. One processing method is O or air plasma which removes organic contaminants by chemical reaction with highly reactive oxygen radicals and ablation by energetic oxygen ion. The other processing is called physical ablation or argon plasma which cleans by ion bombardment and physical ablation of contaminants off the surface, and does not react with the surface or alter surface chemistry. With these processes, plasma cleaning eliminates the use of chemical solvents and likewise eliminates the storage and disposal of solvent waste.

Another benefit of plasma cleaning is that it cleans surfaces with microscale porosity or microchannels which are usually not suitable for solvent cleaning because of the surface tension limitations. It also makes most surfaces hydrophilic, while lessening water droplet contact angle and while increasing surface wettability. It thus promotes adhesion and enhances the bonding to other surfaces.

Also, plasma cleaning prepares surface for subsequent processing such as film deposition or adsorption of molecules. It also sterilizes and removes microbial contaminants on the surface which is beneficial for biomedical applications and biomaterials.

Plasma cleaning basically cleans the surface without affecting the bulk properties of the material. It can treat a wide variety of materials as well as complex surface geometries such as semiconductor wafers and substrates (Si, Ge), glass slides and substrates, optics and optical fibers, oxides such as quartz, indium tin oxide (ITO), gold and metal surfaces, electron microscopy (EM) grids, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever tips.

The process of plasma cleaning is aimed at cleaning substrates to reduce background auto-fluorescence which originates from organic contaminants for fluorescence microscopy. It also has the capability to clean optics, crystals, cuvettes, and substrates for spectroscopic measurements .

Sputter Coater in sputtering is widely used in the semiconductor industry to deposit thin films of various materials in integrated circuit processing.

The process of sputtering can also be done to deposit thin antireflection coatings on glass for optical applications. Sputtering is likewise an ideal method to deposit contact metals for thin-film transistors due to the low substrate temperatures used.

Low-emissivity coatings on glass used in double-pane window assemblies are the most familiar products of sputtering. The coating used in sputter coating is a multilayer which contains silver and metal oxides such as zinc oxide, tin oxide, or titanium dioxide. Tool bit coating such as titanium nitride which creates the familiar gold colored hard coat has been developed by a large industry. The production of CDs and DVDs also benefits from sputtering as it is also used as the process to deposit the metal such as aluminium layer during the fabrication of such products.

Sputtered CrOx and other sputtered materials are likewise used in hard disk surfaces. Basically, sputtering is one of the main processes of manufacturing optical waveguides and is another means for manufacturing proficient photovoltaic solar cells.

More importantly, sputter deposition is utilized in the sputter coating of specimens for scanning electron microscopy or SEM. According to Science Lab by Leica Microsystems, sputter deposition in this matter offers a very important advantage such that even materials with very high melting points are easily sputtered while evaporation of these materials in a resistance evaporator or Knudsen cell is problematic or impossible. Sputter deposited films have a composition close to that of the source material.

The variance is due to different elements dispersing in a different way because of their different mass, by which light elements are deflected more easily by the gas. However, this difference is constant. Sputtered films normally have a better adhesion on the substrate than evaporated films. The technique is highly suited for ultrahigh vacuum applications because a target contains a large amount of material and is maintenance free. There are no hot parts contained in the sputtering sources, as they are typically water cooled to avoid heating, and are attuned with reactive gases such as oxygen.

Basically, sputtering can be performed top-down while evaporation must be performed bottom-up. Hence, it allows for advanced processes such as epitaxial growth.

Sputter coating is defined as a sputter deposition process conducted in scanning electron microscopy to cover a specimen with a thin layer of conducting material, normally a metal, such as a gold/palladium alloy.

According to Science Lab by Leica Microsystems, a conductive coating is needed to prevent the charging of a specimen with an electron beam in conventional Scanning Electron Microscope mode, which usually releases high vacuum and high voltage. Heavy metals are good secondary electron emitters which make metal coating contributive the increase in the signal ration, they are however, of inferior quality when X-ray spectroscopy is employed. This is the reason why carbon coating is preferred when using X-ray spectroscopy.

Sputter coater is used in the process of sputter coating, which is the standard method for preparing non-conducting or poorly conducting specimens for observation in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Many scientific instrument distribution companies offer low-cost, rotary-pumped systems for depositing non-oxidising metals – such as gold (Au) and platinum (Pt) – and turbo molecular-pumped models, suitable for both oxidising and non-oxidising metals, such as chromium (Cr).  Easy-change carbon inserts can be used to configure most sputter coater models as carbon evaporation.

Coaters also vary according to its thin film applications. The Q150T is suitable for SEM, TEM and many thin film applications and is available in three formats, which are as a sputter coater, as a carbon coater or both in a single compact system.

The rotary-pumped Q150R is suitable for W-SEM sputtering non-oxidising (noble) metals and for carbon coating SEM specimens for EDS and WDS.

The Q300R T (rotary-pumped) and Q300T T (turbo molecular-pumped) models are suitable for larger specimens, because they allow coating of a single large diameter specimen up to 8″/200 mm, or multiple smaller specimens over a similar diameter. Both have triple sputtering heads to ensure even deposition.

Q300T D Dual Target Sequential Sputter Coater on the other hand is suitable for thin film applications as it allows consecutive metal layers to be deposited without the need to break vacuum.

Sputter Coater of Cressington, mainly the Cressington 208HR now offers real solutions to the problems encountered when coating as it minimizes the effects of grain size. The 208HR offers a full range of coating materials and gives unprecedented deposition conditions. To minimize charging effects the 208HR stage design and wide range of operating of the uniformity and conformity of the coating. The HIGH/LOW chamber configuration allows easy adjustment. It also features several advantages such as the Wide Choice of Coating Materials in which magnetron head design and effective gas handling allow a wide specification.

Another advantageous feature of this product is its Precision Thickness Control. This feature optimizes the thickness to the FE-SEM operating voltage using the MTM-controller. Multiple Sample Stage Movements is another feature which separates rotary, planetary and tilting movements which thus allow optimized coverage.

Variable Chamber Geometry is the product’s feature which is used to adjust deposition rates from 1.0 nm/structure. Another advantageous feature of this product is that it allows wide range of operating pressures, in which independent power/pressure adjustment allows operation 0.2 – 0.005 mbar. Space and energy saving design which eliminates need for floor space and connections is also possible due the product’s Compact Modern Benchtop Design.

Applied Physics is a scientific instrument distribution company incorporated in Singapore which makes available of this product. The company’s services and products offering are dedicated to the electron microscopy community. It likewise offers products such as RF plasma cleaner, sputter coater, carbon coater, high vacuum evaporators, freeze fracture coating solutions, vacuum pumping systems and consumables. Applied Physics has a dedicated team of people with years of extensive experience in the field of electron microscopy and microanalysis. They truly understand the needs of each customer and are focusing on what they do best. Their customers are their priority as such they are committed to their customer to deliver the best solutions for their applications and requirements.

Carbon Coater of Cressington, particularly the Cressington 208 is by far the most advanced Carbon Coater with wide applications for TEM, SEM and microprobe techniques. It allows change between varieties of applications with optimized operation conditions.

The Cressington 208 is designed as a modular system to adapt to the many different needs demanded techniques. The basic system can be fitted with different accessories to customize a specialist shadowing, aperture cleaning, glow discharge and others. It can also be fitted with SEM or Scanning Electron Microscope with high vacuum for microprobe or polished substrates or granular substrates. The Cressington Carbon Coater 208 can likewise be fitted with both.

This product boasts of its main features which provide advantages in many ways. First of is that the voltage controlled rod source gives multiple evaporation capability. It also has automatic evaporation control which gives ease of use in a busy environment. The Cressington 208 also has low cost thickness monitor that gives reproducible results, and an 80 l/sec turbo pump on a 150mm chamber that gives very rapid pump down.

Using Cressington Carbon Coater can dramatically reduce operating cost. The reduction of operating cost works in two ways: first is due to not having diffusion pump to leave and the second is due to not having to need for water cooling.

Consequently, there will be no need for LN2 or dry nitrogen gas optional and there will be a more compact, space saving, and modern bench top design.

Applied Physics is a scientific instrument distribution company incorporated in Singapore which makes available of this product. The company’s services and products offering are dedicated to the electron microscopy community. It likewise offers products such as RF plasma cleaner, sputter coater, carbon coater, high vacuum evaporators, freeze fracture coating solutions, vacuum pumping systems and consumables. Applied Physics has a dedicated team of people with years of extensive experience in the field of electron microscopy and microanalysis. They truly understand the needs of each customer and are focusing on what they do best. Their customers are their priority as such they are committed to their customer to deliver the best solutions for their applications and requirements.

Sputter Coater using 328 Ultra High Resolution Sputter System has the improved resolution of FESEMs and TEMs which demands improved specimen preparation techniques and resolution coatings. The Sputter coater from Cressington is specifically designed for the needs of ultra high resolution FESEM or TEM imaging. For nonconductive samples, specimen preparation and coating is the key to ultra resolution coatings are ultra-thin, structure-free and conform metal (W, Pt, Cr or Ir) or carbon coatings.

The 328UHR Ultra High Resolution Sputter System includes a unique on-axis twin sputter source sputtering of metal without breaking the vacuum. The twin source design rotates at 180 degrees placing position and the other sputter head on-axis for coating. A shutter is incorporated for target conditioning. The power supply supplies up to 80mA continuously variable sputter current. As for those with large selection of sputter targets W, Pt, Cr or Ir is suggested.

The programmable Turbo Pump on the 328 Systems can be optimized for both ultra high vacuum or for load lock system enables quick sample transfer without breaking the near UHV vacuum. The Eucentric is selecting the desired coating angle with the indexed angle control handle outside the vacuum chamber.

The Sputter Coater has a thickness monitor integrated in the 328 System. Larger samples (up to 90mm) can be loaded through the front window or door with its unique latching lock door, the pump down and cycle time will be longer. The 328 Series is available in two versions: the  328 UHR for Ultra High Resolution Sputtering of FESEM Samples and 328 EB-Carbon for demanding FESEM and/or TEM applications.

Applied Physics is a scientific instrument distribution company incorporated in Singapore which makes available of this product. The company’s services and products offering are dedicated to the electron microscopy community. It likewise offers products such as RF plasma cleaner, sputter coater, carbon coater, high vacuum evaporators, freeze fracture coating solutions, vacuum pumping systems and consumables. Applied Physics has a dedicated team of people with years of extensive experience in the field of electron microscopy and microanalysis. They truly understand the needs of each customer and are focusing on what they do best. Their customers are their priority as such they are committed to their customer to deliver the best solutions for their applications and requirements.

Cressington Coater or Cressington 108 carbon coater uses a novel evaporation supply. It boasts of several advantages and user-friendly features such that the current and voltage are monitored by sensor wires in the head and the evaporation source is controlled as part of a feedback loop. Also, the supply gives the conventional rod fed source unusual stability and reproducibility. It also offers low power consumption and the source shows exceptional re-starting characteristics. Anther advantage is that the evaporation source can be operated in “pulse” or “continuous” modes.

The Cressington 108carbon/A offers the choice of either manual or automatic evaporation. In automatic mode the evaporation source operates at a programmed voltage for a programmed time. The programmer is simply adjusted and displays voltage and time digitally. If preferred to be used in manual mode, the unique Cressington supply can be operated in “pulse” or “continuous” with the output voltage set using the rotary control.

The Cressington Carbon Coater 108 also has a modular desktop design which combines carbon control unit, pumping system and thickness monitor into an area of only 42cm x 60cm (16″ x 24″). The desktop pumping system is fully integrated using a quick release all metal coupling system. The compact high speed rotary pump (30sec to 0.1mb) is mounted on an anti-vibration table with a desktop base.

In view of its pumping system, this can be easily extended into a dual pumping system to accommodate the Cressington Sputter Coater along side a Cressington Carbon Coater. Both 108 carbon coaters can be fitted with a high resolution thickness monitor in which the resolution is better than 0.1nm for carbon. Careful use of monitor and evaporation controller gives better than 5% reproducibility of coating thickness in the useful 15nm – 25nm range.

Applied Physics is a scientific instrument distribution company incorporated in Singapore which makes available of this product. The company’s services and products offering are dedicated to the electron microscopy community. It likewise offers products such as RF plasma cleaner, sputter coater, carbon coater, high vacuum evaporators, freeze fracture coating solutions, vacuum pumping systems and consumables. Applied Physics has a dedicated team of people with years of extensive experience in the field of electron microscopy and microanalysis. They truly understand the needs of each customer and are focusing on what they do best. Their customers are their priority as such they are committed to their customer to deliver the best solutions for their applications and requirements.

The innovations in the field of science and technology led to so many discoveries and inventions. Among these innovations are the improvements when it comes to equipment used for scientific experimentation. The old tools that were used to understand scientific phenomena back in the days were no longer suitable for the far advanced research studies being made today.

Among the improved versions of the scientific equipment would be the electron microscope. It is a very powerful version of the optical microscope that has high magnification. Typically speaking, an electron microscope can see things which were a thousand times smaller. It has been a very important tool especially when it comes to inspecting very small samples up close. While the electron microscope seems to be a very powerful tool for research, it is also a pretty complex machine which requires personnel training for people to be able to use it properly.

Moreover, it is also a pretty delicate tool. In order to improve the imaging of a sample, it is required that the specimen is coated with a conductive layer, which are also known as coaters. They are essential sample preparation tools for any electron microscope users. Charging occurs in non-conductive materials such as glass, plastic, wood, organic samples, polymers and many others thus, without coating, surface charging occurs and deteriorates the quality of the electron microscope images.

Coaters comes with a wide choice of conductive material for coating (targets), commonly using Gold, Platinum, Pt/Pd and carbon. Other coating material (targets) such as Chromium, Rodium, Copper and Aluminum are also available. Conductive coating is required in order to create sharper images of the sample when scanned under the electron microscope. This gives better view of the sample, thus providing clearer and better information for data gathering. The advanced technology helps us see the world more clearly, right down to the smallest particle.

Knowledge about our planet Earth and the universe beyond it, have been obtained by humans throughout the years. And it is all thanks to the great historical people who have worked hard for very long in order to be able to understand all that are happening in the world. We may know a lot, but it is still limited. That is why researchers never stopped conducting various studies in order to further expand their knowledge of the scientific world.

This is why people have kept on developing tools and scientific equipment that helps when it comes to gathering important information, like the discovery of a new specimen, for example. Among these tools is the microscope. It is one of the tools which revolutionized microbiology. And today it has developed into something more powerful, that is, the electron microscope.

The electron microscope is a more powerful version of the old microscope. It has a very high magnification. It is capable of seeing things which are a thousand times smaller. Thus it is much better than the optical microscope. It is a delicate form of equipment, and it takes proper personnel training before using it. Moreover, it is not easy for some specimens to look visible under the scanning lens of the electron microscope. The sample must be conductive, as electron microscopes does their magic by means of electrons. For this the sample has to be coated. And today, the best type of coating would be the Cressington coater.

Cressington has first started the coating business in 1973 and it came a long way in the field of high vacuum coating and manufactures a range of high quality coating products in the United Kingdom. Cressington is the leader in the coating technology and a trusted brand in the electron microscopy community.

Cressington coaters can be found in a wide range of industry as an essential sample preparation tools from Universities, material research centers, life science institutes, semiconductors companies, electronics companies, aerospace, automobile, hard disk manufacturing and even forensic research. Cressington has a wide range of coating products that meets the stringent requirements from users of SEM, FESEM, High Resolutions FESEM, FIB and TEM.

The Cressington coater is the best and most widely used kind of coater when it comes to electron microscopy. Cressington coater is suitable for any type of electron microscope, be it FEMES or SEM or TEM. With the improved resolution of electron microscopes today, it is best to have a high resolution coating as well. And the Cressington coating is best suited for that job.