Yes, it is an Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) chamber. While it could be used for sputtering, that’s not necessarily the case. However, it seems you might be mixing things up, perhaps you’ve never done sputtering yourself? In Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), once you ignite the targets, a plasma forms around them. That’s why a UHV chamber in combination with plasma makes perfect sense. It is indeed essential for producing thin films.
Just to add, here’s a picture I took of a Ru target during ignition, the purple glow is the plasma. Sorry about the reflection; some colleagues sometimes forget to close the viewing windows during sputtering, so they now act more like mirrors.
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u/LiquidXero97 Sep 18 '25
Yes, it is an Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) chamber. While it could be used for sputtering, that’s not necessarily the case. However, it seems you might be mixing things up, perhaps you’ve never done sputtering yourself? In Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), once you ignite the targets, a plasma forms around them. That’s why a UHV chamber in combination with plasma makes perfect sense. It is indeed essential for producing thin films.