E6700 Bench Top Vacuum Evaporator
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| E6700 turbo pumped bench top vacuum evaporator shown with standard carbon filament evaporation sources and optional glow discharge ring and source shutter. Note: controllers for the optional item "rack" into the front panel, avoiding the lots of separate boxes cluttering the working space. |
Key features
- Compact bench top design
- Large 10" (250mm) diameter chamber - allows user to set carbon and metal evaporation sources at wide variety of heights and angles with respect to the sample stage.
- TEM and SEM coating - standard evaporation set has carbon and metal filament sources. Sputtering available as an option
- Turbomolecular pumping
- Fast clean vacuum
- Stainless steel construction
- Modular construction for maximum flexibility
- A comprehensive range of options and accessories
- Low angle rotary shadowing option ideal for TEM coating of DNA, proteins and virus particles
The E6700 vacuum evaporator offers the compactness and rapid pump down of smaller coaters, yet enjoys the benefits and flexibility of traditional floor standing vacuum evaporators.
The E6700 allows the user to tailor a system to fulfil their current vacuum evaporation requirements and have the flexibility to easily up-graded at any time in the future.
The E6700 enables SEM and TEM specimen preparation; for example, deposition of carbon support films, metal evaporation, preparation of replicas, shadowing, aperture cleaning etc. SEM sputter coating can be carried out by the addition of a very superior 'cool' sputter coating head and power supply.
A complete working system ....
The E6700 comes in a compact, space-saving housing with standard stainless steel
base plate, TEM work chamber jigging set with bell jar and implosion guard.
E6700 Turbo pumped bench top vacuum evaporator
Using the E6700 is simplicity itself; offering oil free, clean operation,
rapid pump down with no warm up required. The absence of valving further
simplifies operation.
The 240 l/s turbomolecular pump is backed by an optional 90 l/m two-stage
rotary pump. Two Pirani gauge heads and a Penning gauge head monitor vacuum.
The vacuum controller is automatic. Venting is automatic to air or nitrogen
gas. Typical pump down speeds are 10-4 millibar in four minutes. 10-6 millibar
or better can be achieved. The turbo pump can be cooled using a the built-in
E6750 (see options) or by water (internal piping fitted as standard).
E6700 - Features
Work chamber and jigging assembly
Mounted on a 300mm (12") diameter stainless steel base plate, the standard
TEM jigging set includes resistive evaporation sources for 6mm diameter carbon
rods, metal evaporation, tiltable specimen holder and base. The jigging set is
a one-piece assembly making it very easy to remove, clean or modify. The base
has 10 ports though which electrical, vacuum and water connections can be made.
The mounting of the carbon source and filament source is extremely flexible and
allows the user to easily reposition each source at different angles and
heights.
 E6700 filament source during metal evaporation process |
 12" base plate with feedthroughs |
 E6700. Standard chamber jigging From the bottom up: Stainless steel base plate with feedthroughs, Sub-stage, Adjustable height stage with protractor for setting angle, Filament source (left hand side) and carbon gun with shield (right hand side) |
 The large 10" (250mm diameter) bell jar allows large, or multiple smaller samples can be accommodated. To increased source to sample height the standard tiltable stage can be removed and samples placed on the larger sub-stage (as illustrated). |
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The operator has complete control over orientation of evaporation sources and sample stage. Image (above right) shows a typical orientation for upwards evaporation using the metal evaporation (filament) source |
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 Standard carbon evaporation source. Shown with shield. Shield has a moveable slot to allow operator to direct evaporation towards the substrate and help maintain system cleanliness. Carbon Fibre and Rods |
 Standard filament (metal) evaporation source). Filaments and boats for evaporation (pdf file) |
Bell jar and guard
A 250 mm (10") diameter bell jar and implosion guard is supplied. The bell jar
can be substituted with an optional cylinder and top plate where required.
Evaporation supplies
A switchable evaporation power supply is fitted with 10V 100A for carbon and
20V 50A for metal evaporation.
E6700 - options and accessories
Rotary Planetary Stage (E6344)
Carbon coating of SEM samples is necessary for X-ray analysis. The quantity of
carbon films produced by evaporation at high vacuum is superior to that
produced by using a low vacuum system, such as a carbon evaporation head on a
sputter coater.
However, in order to produce a multi-directional coating on the specimen
surface in high vacuum (necessary for SEM observations), the samples must be
tilted and rotated with respect to the evaporation source. For this reason a
tilt and rotate attachment can be fitted onto the baseplate of the coater. The
unit is powered by an electric motor which forms part of a vacuum feed-through.
The E6744 power supply is used to vary the rotation speed.
This power supply is also used for the E6344, E6348 and
E6478 modules. (See link - left - for applications images)
 E6344 Rota Cota |
 E6344 Rota Cota fitted to E6700 |
The E6344 Rota Cota option ensures even deposition on uneven sample surfaces
 Coating fixed sample from a point source
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 Sample coating using the E6344 Rota Cota
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| 150mm (6") Rotating Specimen Stage (E6348) Allows carbon coating and metal evaporation of large flat specimens for example 6" wafers) with carbon or metal. The speed of rotation can be varied. Power supply E6744 required. |
 6" spin table (E6348 ) is ideal for silicon wafers |
| Low Angle Rotary Shadowing
(E6478 - see link for applications images) This technique is used to improve the contrast of very thin structures prepared on carbon support films. The most usual application is for imaging DNA and RNA helices which are otherwise very difficult to prepare. The attachment replaces the normal jigging on the work chamber jigging uprights. The evaporation source is fixed onto a movable arm which can be precisely tilted between 00 and 100 with respect to the specimen table. The horizontal specimen can be rotated at variable speeds using an external power supply. (E6744). A shield (not shown in the photograph) is fitted over the evaporation filament so that shadowing is confined to the specimen table region. An alignment tool ensures the shadowing angle is correctly indicated on the angular scale. |
 E6478 low angle shadowing attachment |
High Voltage Power Supply (E6760)
The variable 3kV 50mA power supply is used for sputtering, etching and
glow discharge with the appropriate modules. A needle valve is supplied to
bleed gas (normally argon) into the system.
A 30 - 195 second timer is fitted as standard for timed coatings, and this can
be over-ridden by the Film Thickness Monitor (FTM) when supplied.
Sputter Coating Module (E6773)
The E6700 can be set up for this technique by the addition of the Polaron
series II "cool" sputtering head module (E6773) used in conjunction with the
E6760 power supply and the needle valve. A switch on the control panel allows
etching to be achieved by reversal of the applied voltage to the sputter head.
This allows specimens to be surface cleaned prior to sputtering.
| Film Thickness Monitor module (E6790 and E5511) The Polaron E6790 (FT7690) FTM module can be fitted to the E6700 to monitor the metal evaporation or sputtering process and terminate it when the require thickness is reached. A quartz crystal holder (E5511) is mounted on the jigging near the substrate holder and the free-standing monitor is connected. |
 E6790 (FT7690) Film Thickness Monitor |
| Glow Discharge (E6762) Glow discharge is a technique used to remove absorbed gases from surfaces of chamber parts resulting in faster evacuation times and improved ultimate pressures. It can also be used to change the normally hydrophobic properties of carbon films to hydrophilic. The chamber components consist of an insulated ring system and high voltage feed-through. The E6760 3kV power supply unit is needed. Note: Glow discharge should not be confused with plasma etching or plasma ashing. For further details of these versatile technique see the KT1050x Plasma system |
 E6762 glow discharge ring |
Carbon Rod Grinder The SC7605 is a motor driven grinder with grinding wheel designed to give a profiled (stepped) rod on to a carbon rod. The standard collet is will hold a 6mm diameter carbon rod. |
 SC7605 carbon rod grinder |
Cooling
The E6700 requires cooling of its turbomolecular pump. Water-cooling can be used (internal piping is fitted as standard) or the optional E7650 air-cooling unit can be fitted. This is mounted internally and is a popular option as it avoids the need for to water cooling
Filaments and boats for evaporation (pdf file)
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