See the attachments, both purely reactive sputtering using a Zn-metal target plus a sulfur-containing reactive gas component in the sputter plasma as well as sputtering from a ZnS target are feasible - it depends on what you have at hand if its urgent. Easier is in my opinion the use of a ZnS target, in that case I guess that the S partial pressure has only a minor influence on the growth parameters, the substrate temperature is probably more important here. In the case of a purely reactive process, both the S partial pressure as well as the substrate temperature as well as a post deposition annealing procedure are recommended. Good luck, Dirk

You should be able to, yes. I recently read this thesis, which has some information on sputtering ZnS using an RF system with turbopump, backed by a rotary vane pump. Chapter 3, in particular, might be useful to you:

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0002403/00001/pdf

Thank you Ross. If you find any article kindly leave a link here

See the attachments, both purely reactive sputtering using a Zn-metal target plus a sulfur-containing reactive gas component in the sputter plasma as well as sputtering from a ZnS target are feasible - it depends on what you have at hand if its urgent. Easier is in my opinion the use of a ZnS target, in that case I guess that the S partial pressure has only a minor influence on the growth parameters, the substrate temperature is probably more important here. In the case of a purely reactive process, both the S partial pressure as well as the substrate temperature as well as a post deposition annealing procedure are recommended. Good luck, Dirk

Dear Dr. Dirk

Thank you for valuable comments. I have ZnS target directly.

Ok Fine now we can use ZnS using RF sputtering source. Done. To extend my clarifications, I would like to knew few more points.

1. Should there be separate sputtering system dedicated for deposition of ZnS only?

2. we have a central facility sputtering system used by all students of IISc . The questions raised them was,

If I use ZnS will it contaminate the chamber and affect the process/work of other students?

In case if it contaminates, what precautions i need to take so that I can carry out my work smoothly without affecting other students.

The below link is the tool which we are using right know for various materials:

http://sindhu.ece.iisc.ernet.in/nanofab/twikii/bin/view/Main/RFSputter%28Tecport%29

Kindly give your valuable suggestions at the earliest.

waiting for your response.

I've used ZnS quite a lot in optical coating, but via evaporation in a box-coater type system with diffusion pump, so not sure about problems with turbopump. As for contamination, if I've used ZnS, it's usually better to completely strip down and clean the deposition system before working with other materials again. It does seem to 'spread' thoughout the machine quite extensively and can sometimes cause contamination problems. Also, it smells quite bad!

I should add that I do use ZnS along with some other materials in depositing multilayer coatings, for instance yttrium fluoride, germanium, etc., without problems.

Dear Dr. Ross

I think contamination happens usually with any material in thermal evaporation systems. this is quite a common feature.

I would like to know specifically with RF sputtering system.

Can you share your opinion specifically with sputtering system Ross..

I'm not sure how valuable my opinion would be, since I don't have personal experience of sputtering the material, only evaporation. But if there is some problem, you can always clean the system afterward - bead blasting, solvent wash, etc.

This is, of course, quite easy if you have removable chamber shields.

Hi Anantha,

of course you will find the ZnS all in your chamber, and, yes, this may influence the work of others, as well as yours might be influenced by the others if they are not working clean ...

One quite easy thing that you may think of is to cover the entire chamber from the inside with aluminum foil - if your process conditions are not to aggressive (in terms of temperature and gas composition) then the Al should not react and contaminate your system. Of course the Aluminum is not so good for the evacuation of the system, and you may "import" e.g. carbon and water contaminations, but the Al will shield the vacuum chamber from your ZnS, and your samples from the contaminations in the chamber. And you may remove your ZnS-covered Al after you have processed your samples without disturbing the experiments of your colleages ... Good luck, Dirk

Thank you Dr. Dirk sir.

I will speak to the concerned authorities and let you all know the status

once again thanks for your valuable suggestions

Hi Dirk Sir

Unfortunately our fab manager will not allow us to do ZnS as it is is centralized system.. thank you for feedback

best to use E-beam evaporation. RF sputtering will have some troubles such as target cracking, high absorbing films

Dear Anantha, what about setting a small, new vacuum chamber only for your purposes? If a sputter target and all the electronics are available, you do not need that mcuh additional equipment: A pump, a vacuum vessel, a gas inlet - and that's it. Good luck, Dirk

Dear Dr. Dirk

Yaa thats what we have thought and we planned to make seperate system.

Dear Dr Yongbai

I have asked company people from where we purchased Ebeam evaporation system. They have suggested we can use ebeam system

Thanks for ur suggestion

If your system has resistive evaporation capability, ZnS can work quite well being evaporated from e.g. a molybdenum boat too.

What will happen in the plasma on ZnS? Will it decompose to Zn and S? If so, how will the S affect the system?

One more question, whether the CuS or SnS has the similar behavior in sputtering of the contamination?

In terms of CuS and SnS - they may all behave different becuase of their thermodynamics. They all have different heats of formation etc, and thus it may be dangerous to apply general rules.  I think Ross idea of evaporating ZnS is maybe a good option, although films may be oxygen deficient. I remember that we prepared ZnS films by evaporation a long time ago, however the adhesion on the substrates was poor as far as I remember. Hope this helps, Dirk