My First Successful Metal Coating Machine - Magnetron Sputtering
Even though you may not be familiar with them, magnetrons are at the heart of many of the manufacturing processes that make the modern world what it is. They let you coat anything in either a layer of metal or ceramic, so they find heavy use in the semiconductor manufacturing industry and many others. From mirrors, to filters, to microchips and neural lace, these machines capabilities are truly amazing.
I've been trying to build such a machine for years, so I'm excited to share my build of a functional magnetron that can successfully coat glass in a perfect copper mirror or metal oxide coating.
More resources:
Bens Video - • Intro to sputtering (p...
Why is titanium colorful? - • Why is Titanium so COL...
Sputtering - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputtering
dichroic mirrors - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichroi...
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haha, shoutout to electroboom. This is new to me and answered many questions I didnt know I had.
Also a shoutout to AvE vefore that
@@tp6335 indeed!
13:08 "It will hurt the entire time you're dying if you touch it while it is running.", priceless.
It made my day!
when it will kill you is not enough of a threat, lol
All safety warnings should be written like that ;)
@@soundspark 3D printers are cheaper than just buying some polycarbonate sheets? Amazing.
Hey you just missed to get echo effect on 'FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER'.........
I was too distracted laughing at "It will hurt the entire time you're dying"
@Josh Why? that's something electroboom would do. In fact, i think he did IIRC, probably while experimenting with his tesla coil.
@@suchiman123 electrobooms signature move is "touching" deadly electrical stuff, so we don't want TE emulating that part lmao
I noticed the precautionary warning is followed by the transformer and rectifier sitting on the workbench fully exposed with sketchy alligator clip leads strewn all over the place. That isn't the correct way to deal with High Voltage at all. Definitely going to be hurting the entire time you are dying.
@@tissuepaper9962 Make the signature move "touching" deadly plasma stuff 😅
This is either the least hipster thing done with a mason jar or the most, I can't tell.
Adding a high voltage smoothing capacitor to your high voltage full bridge rectifier across the DC side should improve your results. The ripple in the DC will likely give inconsistent film thicknesses across the surface of the sample.
I knew he was missing some thing in his rectifier but it didnt hit me till now i have been working with like only ac lately
Do they also call that part a condensator?
@@MegaLietuvislt Yes, that used to be the name for it (and still is in many languages), but in English you say capacitor nowadays.
@@MegaLietuvislt Condensers are normally called capacitors now. Both names describe what they do, which is to hold an electric charge.
Might be good to add a series inductor (ballast) after the rectifier and capacitor to smooth the current flow. The high voltage winding of a transformer will do.
I used magnetron sputtering (had to fix one that was almost "gone") on my PhD-work and also made high vacuum arc melter, and based on my experience I would recommend using 3-side supported (squeezed) O-rings instead of 2-side-squeezed flat gaskets whenever possible (since you have the lathe). Also a book worth it's weight in gold about cheapo-high-grade-lab-research instrument building, I would recommend is the John H. Moore et all Building Scientific Apparatus (4th ed). It has really nice tricks to get high vacuum cheaply (that I did not need/get to use due to external funding). Looking forward to new episodes.
Bought a copy of Building Scientific Apparatus. Excited to give it a read.
Excellent book recommendation. Thanks!
Your input is appreciated, thank you.
"will hurt the entire time you're dying if you touch it..." lmao
Nice nod to AvE.
Scrolled to find this XD
Yeah... It still won't hurt for long. MOT's are VERY deadly if you drop your guard.
@@SwervingLemon gotta pump up the electricity resists, or have a priest nearby for revive
I have a little bit of experience with some of this so if you don’t mind some comments from the peanut gallery: -When I’ve done sputtering, usually there would be a pre-sputtering step where a shutter has a small amount of material deposited on it to clean the target surface -The gaskets would commonly use stuff like (oxygen free) copper O-Rings for high vacuum systems to prevent any outgassing. It would be a one time use though because the connection would “bite into” the copper to produce the seal -Swage connections might be worth looking into -High Vacuum lithium grease was also used -If your sputter material is “machineable” it might have metals that can outgas like lead or zinc. (Strangely lead-tin solders are used for vacuum applications so keep that in mind?) If the iron is machineable, it might have sulfur inside of it which can outgas -It might be cheaper to use metal foil for your metal sources -Acrylic can outgas in ultra-high vacuum. It’s used for vacuum systems, but those are usually “low-vacuum” systems (where the pressure is higher, confusing I know) where it’s good enough. Maybe something like a GPU cooler could work? -Instead of a diffusion pump (since you don’t want to use thatbfor this project) you might can look into using a cryopump instead since I think I remember you using liquid nitrogen before -Borosilicate glass can be used for sealing metal connections for vacuum too -The UV light from the plasma might be damaging to the epoxy so that might be something to keep in mind in the future -Despite the iron atoms having a high effective temperature as they are sputtering, they are still magnetic, so you might want to adjust your setup for those (see attached: www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_best_way_to_do_sputtering_of_magnetic_materials/amp ) The link has people discussing putting magnets *BESIDE* your sputter target so that might be worth looking into -If you have a UV-Ozone cleaner, it can do *WONDERS* when preparing a substrate for film deposition -For making diamond, one thing you might can try is to use graphite foil as the sputter source and a silicon wafer as a substrate. Hopefully the oxide layer doesn’t interfere too much and if I recall, Diamond grows on silicon but at a 45° angle (its been a while so don’t hold that too much against me) Disclaimer: some of this stuff is kinda fuzzy since it’s been a while so take it with a grain of salt. This is stuff you probably already know and I know you were only doing a prototype and couldn’t get around to all of this, but hopefully something that I typed can prove helpful 😁
There is a problem with cryopumps: they can't take much argon. Other than that, one can be used to suck water, oxygen, nitrogen and CO2 out, deeper than any "roughing" mechanical pump ever can. I've seen corrugated stainless steel pipes in a hardware store here. I think, they can perform much better than vinyl hoses, but they are quite inconveniently rigid.
I enjoy using Hysol 1C epoxy for my vacuum epoxy because I believe it's identical to TorrSeal. (McMaster) I also prefer to use hand bendable aluminum tube and Swagelok fittings/needle_valves. I can leave my system at vacuum for weeks. Instrutech gauges are a good choice, but be aware the hot-wire gauges will require correction but the diaphragm ones don't. A good bell jar is like $60 on amazon. If you are going to do borosilicate sealing to metal you'll have to get good at flameworking, flame annealing, and/or use Tungsten to match the expansion coefficient.
Concerning the sputtering of Fe, when ever I do sputtering of material conatining Fe or Ni, the target (material to be sputtered) thickness plays a large role. With a "proper" machine and a high magnetic field gun our Fe target can not be much thicker than 3mm otherwise our coating will look similar to yours. You might want to try to use a steel foil, as mentioned by someone else.
Codys lab Gravity vacuum vid, would that type of vacuum work?
Tagging on here, -I'd recommend a shutter as well if you can make that work. With that you can protect your sample, use the Ar to pre-sputter removing the native oxides on your target material and then open the shutter for the deposition. -Seconding the cryopump, I'd add a roots blower as well. Most PVD systems I've seen have had a cryo on them. The roots blower helps handle the process gas you need for sputtering. A diffusion pump could also work and handle the load, but you start to have backstreaming concerns with the oil though if you do not follow the proper pumping procedure. (Diffpumps at this point are the poor mans vacuum pump in industry due to the backstreaming issues) A turbomolecular pump isn't as good in PVD systems, they're usually used in dry(plasma) etchers. -A minimum base pressure for what you're looking for here would be in the 1e-6->1e-8 torr range for good quality films. -Corning vacuum grease is also good, you can find it on amazon. generally for lubing o-rings/gaskets - For forming oxides, you're going to want to flow O2 into the system not just sputter them. If you only sputter the oxides they don't form precisely what you're thinking they do as the oxygen leaves through the pump sometimes. You can do similar films by also flowing N2 for nitrides. You'll want to balance the O2/N2 flows with Ar, let the Ar do the sputter, and the O2/N2 be part of the film formation. Basically Ar, O2 and N2 are all you should have/make sense to have hooked up to a sputtering/PVD system, if anything else is being used to sputter you don't know what film you're getting. It gets expensive, but the higher purity the gas you use the better quality film you get. Welding argon is really not great and has some oil in it, but that could just be what you can get, just kind of a fyi on that. -You could also have a go at machining a chamber, one of the main concerns you have with the glass is it breaking under high-vac. Applied Science has a bell-jar that was made explicitly for this sort thing, it isn't a coincidence. You can have viewports in the chamber, and use thicker glass that wont break. I've got my concerns about the mason jar you're using when going to a high-vac setup. -Any exposed parts of the setup should be wiped down with isopropyl alcohol prior to pumpdown. If you are doing a seal similar to how you are now with the chamber, either using the corning grease or wiping it down with iso is preferred. -Diamond like carbon is going to be a pain. I'd probably do more of a thermal PVD setup where you heat up a graphite rod as opposed to sputtering. whether or not that is DLC is its own issue. PECVD is commonly used for DLC using a high grade acetylene if I remember correctly. -My personal go-to book recommendations for thin films processing: (I have these at my desk at work) (also there are ways to find PDFs of these) --Materials Science of thin films by Milton Ohring --Thin Films Processes II by Vossen & Kern --A user's guide to Vacuum Technology by O'Hanlon. I hope that's helpful to you or someone else!
Sputtered aluminum makes very good mirrors. When I made them though, I just used a tungsten coil with a wad of aluminum foil shoved into the center (the W coil was pretty heavy-duty!). The W coil was connected to a pair of feed-throughs to a low voltage, high current supply (~2-3v at 20+A). I used glass slides and just laid them on the bottom of the chamber. I pumped the chamber down (had an Edwards pump, too!) and when it got down as low as it could, I turned on the power supply. The W coil glows really brightly and vaporizes the Al foil and voila, very shiny aluminized glass mirrors! An overcoat of SiO would have been helpful as the coatings are super fragile (as you know), but I didn't have any. Anyway- nice job with the plasma approach!
Your method was evaporation, also known as PVD. A very popular and much easier method to set up, aside from high current feedthroughs. The coatings shouldn't be fragile, that is likely because your glass was contaminated.
@@Spirit532 Well, the coatings were pretty darn thin. But yeah, cleaning them with acetone may have left some residue. Most coated optics are overcoated with SiO to make them more damage resistant, though.
@@LiLi-or2gm the acetone is just OK for a first pass cleaning, there's better ways to get 'em really clean before coating.
Are you ever not doing something cool? That title just sounds amazing and I don't even know what Magnetron Sputtering is yet!
I have to agree
You should watch the video then you know what it is and how it works.
@@-Tris- I posted that around the moment the video appeared in my feed and before watching it obviously hence the "yet", I watched it right after and it was as good as expected and I learned a lot, gotta love thought emporium.
@@TheOnlyDamien haha ok, i was just wondering how someone couldn´t understand this great video. Perfect and detailed explanation as always.
I wonder if this would work with a cathode Ray tube?
Aww, I'm too early to see Electroboom react in the comments.
Same here
*1 year ago*
Same
For normies you're some kind of magican, keep it up!
he's a magician even to us nerdy folks
@@soundtrancecloud5101 no
that Electroboom reference was really nice. no need to sorry
I once had the pleasure of using a professional "Sputterer" they had at the local Uni for a school project where i needed to coat some mold fungi in gold in order to observe it under their SEM! It was a great project!!
Could you not observe their gold mould semi with just your eyes?
@@theRhinsRanger The electron-beam in a SEM would burn the fungi the moment it touches it. We speaking of energy around 20.000 Volt. The Gold coating encapsules the fungi and preserve its fine surface. The Mikrometer/Nanometer World is very interesting to observe ;)
I recently had the opportunity to work with a sputterer in a lab during an internship, and you video has really helped me understand and appreciate the device much more! Thanks for the quality content!
I yelled full bridge rectifier at the same time without knowing you were going to say it too lol. couldn't resist
I knew we had that "Full bridge rectifier!" coming the moment i saw it in the background. Still missed to turn down my speakers though ...😅
The last time I was this early, you still had Lactose Intolerance. Awesome video as always!
Just when I was thinking that I need to go through my subscription list and do some house cleaning because my daily list of videos is almost unmanageable-DAMN YOU! Subscribed.
I worked at an electronics manufacturer for over 10 years running the SMT equipment, which is the equipment that places the sometimes thousands of tiny resistors, capacitors, diodes, I.C.'s, flatpacks, etc. I probably ran a million PCB's through my machines in that time. It never occurred to me that PCB's went through this process to get their traces and such...I remember thinking they were a laminate or pressed. I am amazed! Thank you for this! I LOVE learning new things and try to daily
oh man, you know GLASS, and METAL, are my trigger words
Many compliments! Go RF and make some dielectric coatings! As you said in the video the satisfaction to get your first metal coating with DC magnetron is really big! Sputtering dielectrics is complicated but much more useful!
Dude. You should try a diamond hole saw for cutting tiles, etc. They are fairly inexpensive and drill a perfect, easy hole in glass.
This^ I paused the video to look them up on Amazon.$20 for a set.
I picked up a set based on your suggestion and yup, they're great. Bit tricky to get the hole started without marring up the glass, but makes a nice clean hole. Already used them to make a new upgraded chamber for the system. thanks!
@@thethoughtemporium agreed... you sort of have to start them at an angle then roll them flat. Glad I could help!
@@danfoster326 which is exactly what I ended up doing. First vacuum test won't be for a week or so, so won't know how well things are holding up until then, but so far seems promising
Congrats on getting it to work. It was really cool to see this done with such a simple set up(in comparison to how it’s done commercially).
Great job man. Once again you’ve delivered quality science with practical costs. Other channels make science seem like a rich mans game, but you always show your subscribers a working mans experiment. Its better to put in the elbow grease than to shell out bucks. (Especially if you’ve already shelled out for great tools). Thank you.
*FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER* I accidentally touch a power outlet in front of me.
Did you rectify that situation?
Then you created a full-bridge rectum-fryer instead ;-)
Tell us, is it true that the life of Bon Scott flashes before your eyes when you die like that?
You learned that power is not imaginary and that it was unfortunate that the sqrt of -1 was dubbed "imaginary".
@@lordchickenhawk Who's Bon?
Wonderful video. I made a half-working magnetron from your old video from years ago. Maybe this one will help me make a fully-working one! Really appreciated. Great work.
Does it work?
Thank you for giving me something to do during summer break, two years in a row.
I'm a 63 YO technologist from the Semiconductor industry. I've spent 3 decades working with Metals Sputtering and Ion Implantation systems. Hints: #1 Instead of using Silicone, use Viton elastomer vacuum seals. #2 Don't use dielectric materials (such as glass) for your vacuum chamber walls because interior conductive coatings, even very thin, will charge up and discharge periodically and this will create multiple types of instability in your plasma. Don't forget, the vacuum chamber wall is part of the electronic circuit of the Magnetron. #3 For high quality films you need high vacuum that can be produced with a turbo-molecular vacuum pump that's backed up by a rotary rough vacuum pump. Even if you can't afford a turbo pump, use a dry mechanical vacuum pump to eliminate the source of hydrocarbon oil in your process. #4 Don't use a reactive gas or mixture such as air for the ion discharge. High purity Ar gas is the best for several reasons. It's non-reactive with your substrates and target metals and, Ar ions are large (AMU 40) and will thus bombard the target with more force to achieve a higher deposition rate. #5 Operate the Ar gas at 9 MilliTorr Sputtering pressure for the best results. #6 For best adhesion, clean the glass substrates with a solution of HCL (hydrochloric acid) then rinse with DI water, Acetone then isopropyl alcohol. dry well with heated air. Maintain the substrates at a cold or cool temperature while metal coating. Make sure that the substrates are electrically grounded to the chamber wall as this will attract the metal clusters to the desired surface. Use lower power for more time for less Target heating and better adhesion and step coverage of topography. I continue to work with electron microscopes and microfocus x-ray systems in my small business.
"The high voltage is from a microwave transformer..." That's rad, maybe i should dig the old- "...will hurt the entire time you are dying" ...
“And will hurt the entire time you’re dying” My laughter hurts more than that right now.
Props for the "FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!" and hinting at a followup to the rotovap.
Ahh! I'm obsessed with thin film interference!! I collect iridescent stuff so mentioning making dichoroic mirrors plus mentioning making opal in the icing robot video has me sooooo excited 😍😍
(grabs an empty pickle jar) Hey, can I throw that away? - Careful, it's my fusion reactor core!
Great video, Filled with info aaand FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!
NICEE, ive worked with a sputtering machine in my ceramic internship. They where used to cover the ceramics in a gold layer, so they could used in the electron microscope
I have got a chance to use this for coating my samples for electron microscope. I always wondered how it worked and finally got to know it
FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!!!!! Good video👍 Do you have numbers on the amps you where pulling?
There is a two part epoxy product specifically for vacuum applications called Torr Seal.
This is so good, I've never even thought that someone would make a video on this. Best sciene channel on KZhead right now.
I love this. I’ve come back to watch this video multiple times.
Im triggered the water cooling on the magnet didnt have any RGB Leds Those give bonus cooling
Nonono they give extra FPS wich isn't needed here
@@germankerman984 na bro,
Hey is your lactose Gene therapy still kicking? Has it worn off you and have you done anything else with it? Just curious
If I only had a bio friend who could -do this to me- show me how to do this to myself...
Zahlenteufel1 do you want full body cancer too?
Probably still works. He said in an update video that that it was and there were nothing really to report. I expect an update video, if it ever stops working. .. Actually, what I expect, is to see gene therapy available in a few -decades, because trials- years and lactose intolerance a thing of the past.
This "garden-shed" science is wonderfully inspiring. Watching clever people make amazing machines out of household junk is very engaging. I envy your creative talents.
After watching your earlier video and Applied Science, I decided I needed to do this too. I needed a way of making beamsplitters reliably and with repeatable results. In the end I bought a used desktop sputter coater and had to do some restoration/repair work but now it works like a dream. Our machine doesn't need any water cooling. The next thing I want to do is make anti-reflection coatings. In order to sputter dielectric materials, ideally you need RF power instead of DC and the secondary vacuum pump is also needed. Aluminum falls into this category too. It doesn't sputter well with DC because it quickly develops an oxide layer which is of course insulating. We have enough gear to make a larger RF powered unit in the future. With DC we've sputtered silver, gold and nickel and applying a precise, high quality, semi-reflective layer onto a glass prism has become a quick, routine process that we can now do anytime. Keep going - great fun!
Quickly turning into gettho Ben krasnow ;) Joking aside, great work man. Very inspiring.
Random tip 112: use your finger or a forming tool dipped in acetone to smooth silicone goop
Water is fine. In my experience saliva works well. hahah sorry that's not a recommendation.
I see a man of culture, have been watching Rich Rebuilds ;)
This channel is like Applied Science but, you know, fun to watch!
Now THIS is a proper KZhead channel
Can you try coating wood with metal?
The wood would probably burn in the hot plasma
@@zjeboslaw ...more "out gas" than burn in those conditions.
13:13 "utmost care needs to be exercised around the high voltage wires" Wires sitting exposed, unsecured
I remember dancing around after synthesizing a long sought after compound, 15 yrs ago. Its an amazing feeling even repeating some of theses things, can you imagine discovering them from scratch.
It’s unbelievable how much I enjoy your Content and Channel! You got such interesting Videos! Thank you for all that! Keep the great work coming! Greeting from Germany! ✌🏻
Be careful about xrays as there might be some from shooting electrons (from the ionization) at metal with energies of up to 2keV.
Indeed. Soft X-rays are possible and UV is certain, so make sure you are wearing the proper eye protection or just using a camera.
Isn't soft x-rays starts at 10-15kv ?
This is like applied science's youtube channel took roids and decided to upload once a week instead of once every 3 Months.
I always love a new Thought Emporium video
Dang dude, you’re so cool! Thanks for sharing your awesome talents and skills that you’ve honed for years. It’s wonderful to have access to so much knowledge!
FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!!!
"The utmost care needs to be exercised around the high-voltage wires" - Reality: bare wires everywhere and non-high-voltage approved crocodile clips.
Sometimes old mantras ring true... Do as I say, not as I do.... 😂
HiVac tech here. One minor mistake :) Your diff pump would go between the chamber and the E2M80 (rough pump). The diff pump would pull you under 5mt, but they need to be backed by a rough. or a booster/rough combo (roots blower, sitting on top of your E2M80) Great vid though. I work on tools that do this for a living. I think its awesome that you got this going at home for almost nothing
Your channel is so wonderful. Thanks for existing!
You said it.... Modern magic is literally nowadays science.
I have to admit that you make this look so easy.
it took a while, but I managed to build mine. thank you for great videos about it.
Never saw this process before. Awesome.
Absolutely fascinating. The mind boggles.
10/10 most underrated youtube channel in existence.
Well the job you've done is incredible! You made a magnetic sputter well!
12:42 nice nilered glassware
Watched few of your videos. You are really somebody. I think there are not many people with this knowledge. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Regards.
Very cool, I watched the 2nd part of this video 1st then came to this one, This apparatus is now on my bucket list! Thank you! 👍✌🖖🍻
This does put a smile on my face
Simply amazing! Great project!
You my friend, are a genius! Cheers
Still amazing. Thanks!
You are awesome. You make me want to up my game and reach for loftier goals.
Finally! he revisits my favorite topic!
Oh this video made me happy on so many different levels. First I was thinking how nice it was that you made an applied science project feel so much more accessible. Then when I saw your diode square in my head I was thinking is that a??? Then you start to mention it and in my head I'm thinking oh no he's gonna do it.... he's gonna say it... then I hear you gloriously say "FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER" and I laughed out loud for an embarrassingly long amount of time. Keep up the good work.
Awesome modern manufacturing magic.
can't wait to see the upgraded version of this project
Very nice! I saw the video and thought it was another post from Ben, but was extremely satisfied to see if was your channel! The more people making videos like these, the better.
This technology is now my day (night shift) job, and I'm still very new to the concepts as well, so this has been a very fun video to watch. :) Our lab gear is of course many orders of magnitude more fancy and expensive, but the underlying principles are identical. Very neat stuff.
It's great to see how easy this can be, I was fascinated when I saw Ben Krasnow's video a few years ago but his set up is far less achievable for the average home shop.
Very cool. Love to hear when people do the happy dance.
WOw! I'm really keen on seeing that mirror-like carbon coating!
Awesome video! I hope to see more of this and more vacuum stuff!
I've wondered how they do this my entire life and this just answered it I'm subbing thank you
12:34 I like the NileRed flask you got there mate
Yess a FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER. That guy is great.
An exciting step forward! Looking forward to more :D
Thank you for sharing
So awesome!!! Great work!!!
I laughed SO HARD when you said full bridge rectifier amazing work!
Brilliant!
thank you for another great video
Very good job sir, congrats on your success!
Keep up the good work!!!
Great video on Thin Film, Sputter unit. I will probably build one too.
THANK YOU
I run one of these for my job, making quadrupoles for GC/Mass spec machines. I always suspected an enterprising home maker could build one, it's fun to see someone pull it off!
Excellent video. I enjoy your commentary