Introduction
Thin diamond-like films have a huge potential for their application in microelectronics products. This material has unique properties. Among them, high hardness, chemical inertness, very low coefficient of friction, high electrical resistivity and high thermal conductivity. In addition, products made of such a material are transparent in the range from infrared to ultraviolet radiation. Therefore, the material is useful for optoelectronics as antireflective and protective coatings for optical components. Sputtering diamond-like thin films by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a complex process. When carrying out a CVD process, you need to control the power of the thermal node. In addition, it is necessary to make the inert gases in the synthesis chamber.
The problem or task
For experimental needs it was necessary to quickly develop experimental control system CVD-deposition installation. It was necessary to control the power of the heating unit according to a predetermined heating profile.
Solution
A management system has been developed to solve the problem. It controlled the power of the transistor frequency converter and included gas inlet valves in the chamber. Transistor frequency converter (TPR) is a power source of induction heater of thermal node. The control of the TPCH was performed using the RS-485 interface. The gas valve valves were controlled by the ICP-DAS I-7065D relay output module. For the communication of modules and the TPCH with the control system, a USB interface converter RS-485 I-7561 was used. The software is developed in the NI LabVIEW programming environment. The PID controller for the thermal node is designed using the NI LabVIEW Control and Simulation Toolkit. The software ran on an industrial PC. Data exchange with the TPCH was carried out using the Modbus protocol. To exchange data with the relay output module, the DCON protocol was used. The developed system allowed to automate the process of sputtering diamond-like thin films with a minimal budget and in a short time. The customer was given the opportunity to conduct experiments to refine the deposition technology.
Customer
is hidden
project Year
2009
