New sputter deposition capabilities for growth of metal-oxide multilayers

许多当前的技术都是基于对材料的创新使用，这些材料显示出新颖的电子、磁性、电学、热学或光学特性。材料的性质可以通过它们的几何形状（低维，薄膜）和结构（多层）来极大地操纵。材料界面处可能存在新的效应（界面现象），这是由于它们的破坏，从而产生了本体中不存在的新特性。因此，高质量薄膜的沉积对于理解新材料/界面的基本特性以及优化其在器件应用中的行为至关重要。溅射沉积可以说是用于沉积金属和介电膜的最重要的制造技术之一，并且它一直是我们实验室研究的用于沉积金属膜的主要技术。不幸的是，我们的溅射系统，支持我们的研究在过去的十一年，目前无法沉积薄膜由于电气和机械故障。 在该提案中，我们要求对溅射系统进行升级，这将创造一种最先进的工具，用于在第一室中从多达八个源沉积金属材料，并在第二室中从多达三个源沉积氧化物和氮化物。升级将同时作为系统中故障组件的修复。此外，他们将扩大我们在金属/氧化物/氮化物结构方向的研究，使我们成为加拿大（据我们所知）唯一研究和制造磁性固态存储器件的小组。

Many current technologies are based on the innovative use of materials that display novel electronic, magnetic, electrical, thermal, or optical properties. Material properties can be vastly manipulated by their geometry (low dimensional, thin-films) and structure (multilayers). Entirely new effects can exist at material interfaces (interface phenomena) as a result of their symmetry-breaking, giving rise to new properties not present in the bulk. Therefore, the deposition of high-quality films is vital for both understanding the fundamental properties of new materials/interfaces, and for optimizing their behaviour for device applications. Sputter deposition is arguably one of the most important fabrication techniques for deposition of metal and dielectric films and it has been the primary technique for deposition of metal films studied in our labs. Unfortunately, our sputter system, which has supported our research for the last eleven years, is currently not capable of depositing films due to electrical and mechanical failures. In this proposal, we request upgrades of the sputter system which will create a state-of-the-art tool for deposition of metal materials from up to eight sources in the first chamber and for deposition of oxides and nitrides from up to three sources in the second chamber. The upgrades will simultaneously serve as repairs for the failing components in the system. Additionally, they will expand our research in the direction of metal/oxide/nitride structures making us the only group in Canada (to the best of our knowledge) researching and manufacturing magnetic solid-state memory devices.