{"71597":{"#nid":"71597","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Equipment Purchased in 1957 Still Going Strong","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA 1957 classic sits in the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) clean room. It\u0027s not a Chevy, but a Veeco vacuum evaporator more than six feet tall and five feet wide.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe evaporator, still in use today, deposits thin films necessary for microfabrication processes.  Applications include creating the reflective or anti-reflective coatings on optics and building up layers of insulators, semiconductors and conductors to form integrated electronic circuits.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022It\u0027s a very rugged machine and it\u0027s gotten better with age,\u0022 said Mike Harris, a principal research engineer in GTRI\u0027s Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory.  Harris first used the Model 775 evaporator in 1972 as a student.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe system operates by evaporating a source material, such as a metal, in a high vacuum, allowing vapor particles to travel directly to a target object, such as a semiconductor, where they condense back to a solid state and form a thin film of the source material.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHarris attributes the machine\u0027s longevity to its design and documentation - and to the skills of GTRI technicians and engineers. \u0022The operator and maintenance manuals are excellent, with exploded views of the various piece parts, making it very easy for our technicians and engineers to repair it when we have problems,\u0022 he explained.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to repairing the system, GTRI engineers have upgraded and modified the evaporator several times since it was purchased.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFirst, they changed the high vacuum pump from a diffusion pump to a more modern cryogenic pump in 2002. The diffusion pump generated a high speed jet of vapor by boiling fluid and directing the vapor in the pump throat down into the bottom of the pump and out the exhaust. The newer cryogenic pump traps gases and vapors by condensing them on a cold surface.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo increase the uniformity of results, GTRI researchers added a planetary substrate fixture that rotates inside the evaporation chamber.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition, the original system was designed with a tungsten filament that was heated to a high enough temperature so that the source material placed in a crucible on the filament evaporated. GTRI engineers changed this to an electron beam evaporator that fires a high-energy beam from an electron gun to boil a small spot of material, allowing lower vapor pressure materials to be deposited.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESince the 1957 system still runs and remains optimal for numerous applications, Harris sees no reason to buy a new one. \u0022New systems like this probably cost between $700,000 and $1 million,\u0022 he added. \u0022And the new systems are designed primarily for throughput and that\u0027s not necessarily best for a research environment.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308  USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or Abby Vogel (404-385-3364); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:avogel@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eavogel@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETechnical Contact\u003C\/strong\u003E: Mike Harris (404-407-6015); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:mike.harris@gtri.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emike.harris@gtri.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Abby Vogel\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"50-year-old vacuum evaporator is a \u0022clean room classic\u0022"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"A 1957 classic sits in the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) clean room. It\u0027s not a Chevy, but a Veeco vacuum evaporator more than six feet tall and five feet wide.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Clean room equipment still in use after 50 years"}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2007-11-20 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:24","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2007-11-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2007-11-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"71598":{"id":"71598","type":"image","title":"1957 vacuum evaporator","body":null,"created":"1449177386","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:26","changed":"1475894639","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:59"},"71599":{"id":"71599","type":"image","title":"1957 Vacuum evaporator","body":null,"created":"1449177386","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:26","changed":"1475894639","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:59"}},"media_ids":["71598","71599"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"7533","name":"clean-room"},{"id":"7532","name":"evaporator"},{"id":"167609","name":"semiconductor"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}