Rate and thickness measurements

In thin film technology, the measurement of the deposition rate and the accumulated film thickness is of great importance. Inficon offers sensors and instruments based on the Quartz crystal measurement technique and the EIES (Electron Impact Emission Spectroscopy) measurement technique.

With the Quartz crystal measurement technique, the mass increase of a Quartz chip exposed to the vapour is measured and calibrated to the actual coating thickness on the substrate. The coating rate is obtained as a time derivative of the coating thickness thus determined. This technique thus enables in-situ measurement of coating thickness and growth rate during coating. Inficon offers a wide range of different sensors and instruments, so that a customized measurement system can be configured for virtually any application. This sophisticated and reliable Quartz crystal measurement and control technology is therefore suitable for most modern coating processes such as PVD, CVD, ALD and MBE.

For cases where it is difficult or impossible to use the Quartz crystal measurement technique, e.g. because the deposition rates are too high or too low, or the required service cycles are very long, Inficon offers the Guardian® based on the EIES measurement technique. This principle has been used successfully for a long time in processes such as MBE (very low rates combined with long operating times) or turbine blade vaporization (extremely high rates). This technique measures the intensity of the vapor flowing through the sensor window, i.e. the coating rate. The cumulative coating thickness is obtained by time integration.