Printed

Vacuum/volume45/number in Great Britain

1 /pages

61 to 64/l

994

0042-207X/94$6.00+.00

@ 1993 Pergamon Press Ltd

Electron beam evaporation magnetic field-computer estimation

N I Donkov, Bulgaria Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy

with hot filament and control and parameter

of Sciences, 72 Tsarigradsko shousse Boul., 7784 Sofia,

accepted 9 November 1992

Electron beam evaporators with magnetic field and hot filament are widely used in vacuum technology. The lack of adequate models for the electron beam evaporating process makes it difficult to predict the optimum parameters for quality and low cost process control. A mathematical model for transforming the filament heating power into evaporation power is developed. A discrete model for computer control and an algorithm for the models parameter estimation are presented.

1. Introduction Electron hcam evaporators are used in vacuum coating systems, thin film production, tool coating and vacuum metallurgy. Their implcmcntation in the ion-getter pumping is also well known , The most widely used type of evaporator is shown in Figure I. The material is evaporated from anode A which is heated by electron bombardment. This three-electrode system, Figure 2, is placed in a magnetic field generated by a coil B. Film growth takes place at room temperature T,,. The parameters characterizing the fihn deposition can be varied over a wide range by changing the evaporation power P,,. The power ncccssary to heat the anode is a product of the anode current I., and the constant voltage U, applied to anode (U;, = 6 x 10 V) : P,, = I:,6 x IO , PC, depends on the thermionic emission from the filament and thus on the filament heating power P,-. No problems would be faced during the different technological processes if P,, could be controlled adequately. In this case the manipulated variable is P, and the controlled one is PC,. The offset characteristic in Figure 2 is obtained by means of a tungsten filament of diameter d and length 1. whereby I>> d

2. Process model The power balance of the filament heating is :

Pi + P,, = PT + PC,,+ PC+ P, + PC,,,, ,

whcrc P,, compensates the heat losses of the filament oxide film. In the cast of I., K I,.. P,, z 0. The losses caused by the thermionic emission can be neglected too. i.e. P,, z 0 (P,, does not exceed 2% of P,.). For working pressures below IO torr there arc no losses arc : convection losses and P,,,,,, z 0. The thermoemissivc P,,,,= cqd( T- Ti) where B is the total cmissivity of the surface. G is the StcfanPBoltzmann constant of radiation, p is the pcrimeter and T is the filament tcmpcrature. The total filament heating power P, is given by : P, = I,/?, I, is the filament heating current and R,-is filament resistance. Neglecting the conductive losses, the equation ofthc stationary filament heating process takes the following form :

Ipu~( T;, - T:) = I; R,.,

where r,,, is the filament temperature at the wit-cs centrc.

Figure I.

Figure 2. 61

N I Donkov

Electron

beam evaporation

AI,., = I,.,,C,A7:
AC,,,,,, = P,,,C,( 7,

(7)

, -~ 1 )
(8)
magnetic fit&l. yxlcc chargo
;II-L (rang~

whcrc Cis the spccitic heat oltun~stcn On the basis of the power
onic cniission translbriiiatioii and elcclron of bonibardnicnt

and o IS the density.

heating, thcrmithe hcuting proccsscs.

Al,,

= :,I t,,,AP.
\aluc\ 01 the

halancc 01 lihnicnt

At liiglicr
obscrvccl II).

I, to I,, can be dcscribcd

by the equations

which

lend to changes

in the olfsct

charactct-lhtic

(I)

(4):

This nccezsitatcs

the u5c ofcorrcctivc

coethcicn!s

in equation

(8). With

ccluation

(5) in \icb.

and ncglccling
pet- unit

the klistribution is given b\,

I, = ::oS( T~~ T,:).

(1)

(I )> c/), the tcmpcraturc

~iicrwsc

lenpth

the coclticicnts The &sign

mathcniatical the langcs

;I and h dcpcnd of the I,, control

models

on the tilament
demands intcrwls (I)

niatcrial. 01 I~ncat -I in as

the synthesis

of the P, to P,., transforiii~~tion. 7: 7; , , . i = I can bc lincarizcd

Heal-ing in mind shown

the tcmpcratwc in Figiirc

3. oquution

I:rom controlled

ccluations mcmbcr

(7) and (9). for the transient in the lincariccd

rcsponsc

01 the

inter\ als. one can obtain

:
(IO)

A/,,,( /j = (1
I ~implilicd rc\ult

-I i\ :
(II)

(6)
500 r 400 4 h 5 ia.: 3 200
100 t *

300 1

The

unit

step arc

i-esponscz aho~n

loi- the

lour

irango

Irom

tlic

oil*ct

chalactcristic

in Figure mcmbcr.

1. To dc\clop model

the control 01 the c\ap in the

alprithni. orator lincari/crl

it ix ncccssar!
:I\ ;I controlled

to ci-catc 3 discrctc The state

space mhA

2 >
6y

range lour ij
) = .3.\-(X) +

%I Iigurc 3 62

I
100

.\-(I\ + I
_I(/<)

BL/(/i).

70

q (W)

C.\-(k).

N I Donkovt Electron beam evaporation

40

Time Figure 4.

(s) Figure 6.

Diameter

(mm)

u(k) arc the controlled members scalar output corresponds to P,,,(k) and u(k) is proportional C are :

and input; )x(k) to P,(k). A and

-0
0 A=00010, 0 0

0 1

0 0

01 0

0 0
0 0

0 0
0

0 0

I F
01, 8.264 4.110 2.0431.

The pole z = 0.503 is less than unity and thcrcforc the controlled member is asymptotically stable. Effects such as sputtering, oxidation etc. can influence R, and 4, which in turn can change the digital models parameters and lower the control quality. Figures 6 and 7 show the variation of the models parameters with d. Calculations arc made using equation (10) with At = constant and ubeing variable. The detcrmination of d in real time can be performed easily using the available information for I/, and I, :

c =

[l

B = [33.423

16.620

Its componentsh are determined from the transient response (Figure 5). The sampling time AT has been chosen to be 0.5 s. F can be obtained from :

Ap%,.,, -

,z, h1
in the z domain is : 1 -O.503z~-

where p<, is the specific rcsistancc and a is the temperature coefficient of resistance. The algorithm shown in Figure 8 corrects the models parametcrs with dependence on the changes of the working interval as well as with the changes of r/ and R, ; AL is the timing period for data checking. The algorithm prevents the anode from mclting due to excess maximal heating power level. For the control law we have :

In the same four ranges. F is 0.503. The transfer function of the evaporator Gp(z-

I/DA H, i: [R(i)-y(i)]- H,&(k), = i /= 0 ,=2

where H, are the state vector feedback constants, R(i) is the reference signal. H, is the integrator constant, j;,(k) arc the csti-

) =

33.423~~+0.08;~+0.1,-P+o.~1-_~+0.02z~5

0.6 r

*Or

Time Figure 5.

(s) Figure 7.

Diameter

(mm)

63

N I Donkov

Electron

beam evaporation

Read

ADC

Uf Jf
1 Computing 4 I Computing F,bi ,i=1+4

Read I, ADC

Figure 8.

Protection

level

Ktftrcncc~

Time

(s)

mated valttcs \ariahles. unotcn t-ttrvc \tcp rclbmx models

(via iinik arc

tinic scltling using

obs~r-\cr) .

ofthc

state

\cclor I;IL+ par-

which cm

not dircclly

acccssiblc. the resul(s for

The control
rcsponae

hc calcttla~cd input with

I in Figure parameter

9 shou s the control the algorithm (Figure estimation

system

lw tlnil 01thc lixinf

the estimation

X). and curve 2 with

paraniclers.

64