The REMRSEC's sputter machine is an Orion-4 purchased from AJA International. It is an "all manual" machine, which reduced its cost and also forces our students to learn more about how the machine actually works so they operate it. It has four 2" sputter guns integrated into its base plate at a fixed tilt. The sputter guns are magnetrons with water cooling and flip-lid style shutters that allow the plasma to be struck and stablilized prior to film deposition. The argon sputter gas enters the chamber through ports in the base of each sputter gun "chimney", allowing the guns to have Ar flow even when the shutters are closed.
The machine has two 300 W RF power supplies and two 500 W DC power supplies. These can be connected to any of the sputter guns or to the substrate holder. Multiple power supplies can be run simultaneously, allowing for codeposition or reactive deposition. Samples are load locked into the deposition chamber by a magnetically coupled linear transport arm. The substrate platen can accommodate up to 4" diameter round substrates. The substrate holder quite advanced; it can rotate at up to 20 rpm for increased film uniformity, it can be biased with RF or DC potentials, it can be raised or lowered over a 5 cm span, and it can be heated to 850 ºC. The sputter guns are designed to accept targets up to 0.25" thick.