Key System Features

  • Industry-Leading Ion Sources:

    • Like all Intlvac systems, the Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS system incorporates Intlvacā€™s world-renowned ion sources. These sources are meticulously designed, perfected in-house, and rigorously tested to ensure they deliver substrates that meet the highest standards. Whether on the first or 100th use, these ion sources maintain exceptional performance, ensuring reliability over time.

  • Thoughtful Design:

    • The Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS system features a clamshell chassis that provides easy access for maintenance and adjustments. Despite being the largest model in the Nanochromeā„¢ series, it maintains a compact footprint that minimizes floor space requirements, making it suitable for laboratories of any size.

  • Versatile Vacuum Options:

    • The system offers two high-vacuum pump configurations: a cryopump setup or dual turbomolecular pumps. While both are effective, cryopumps excel in faster pump-down times and cleaner operation, whereas turbomolecular pumps handle a wider range of gases and require no regeneration step. This flexibility allows users to tailor the system to their specific needs.

Key System Features

  • Industry-Leading Ion Sources:

    • Like all Intlvac systems, the Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS system incorporates Intlvacā€™s world-renowned ion sources. These sources are meticulously designed, perfected in-house, and rigorously tested to ensure they deliver substrates that meet the highest standards. Whether on the first or 100th use, these ion sources maintain exceptional performance, ensuring reliability over time.

  • Thoughtful Design:

    • The Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS system features a clamshell chassis that provides easy access for maintenance and adjustments. Despite being the largest model in the Nanochromeā„¢ series, it maintains a compact footprint that minimizes floor space requirements, making it suitable for laboratories of any size.

  • Versatile Vacuum Options:

    • The system offers two high-vacuum pump configurations: a cryopump setup or dual turbomolecular pumps. While both are effective, cryopumps excel in faster pump-down times and cleaner operation, whereas turbomolecular pumps handle a wider range of gases and require no regeneration step. This flexibility allows users to tailor the system to their specific needs.

Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS

The Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS (Plasma Assisted Reactive Magnetron Sputtering) system stands as a true workhorse in the field of modern sputtering technology. Built on the reliable and versatile Nanochrome platform, the PARMS system sets a new standard by offering unparalleled material quality and boasting the most advanced capabilities of the Nanochrome lineup.

Exceptional Sputtering Performance

The Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS system supports magnetron sputtering under multiple excitation modes, including Dual AC, pulsed DC, DC, and RF. This versatility enables the production of a wide range of oxides, such as Tantalum, Niobium, Titanium, Germanium, and Silicon. For materials incompatible with magnetron sputtering, the inclusion of e-beam instrumentation ensures the system can handle almost any material via evaporation, offering unmatched flexibility. Sputtering rates of up to 5ƅ/s emphasize the systemā€™s efficiency, while its hallmark precision ensures consistent and uniform results across all applications.

Key Benefits

  • Exceptional process repeatability
  • Stable deposition rates
  • High-quality oxide and nitride film production
  • Capability to create films with high layer counts
  • Optional load-lock operation for enhanced efficiency

Reactive Sputtering: A Game-Changer

What Is Reactive Sputtering?

Reactive sputtering involves introducing a reactive gasā€”such as oxygen or nitrogenā€”into the chamber to interact with a pure metal target, creating a reacted film. This process enables the production of high-quality oxide and nitride films with precise control over film properties by adjusting the reactive gas flow.

Why Choose Reactive Sputtering?

Compared to oxide or nitride targets, reactive sputtering offers significant advantages:

  • Higher durability and efficiency, as metal targets are less brittle and have better thermal conductivity.
  • Cost-effectiveness due to reduced upfront material costs.
  • Flexibility to fine-tune film characteristics and achieve faster cycle times, improving overall productivity.

Advanced Features

The Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS system includes advanced optical endpoint monitoring for precision control. Key features:

  • Onboard reoptimization
  • Broad 350-1650 nm optical control range
  • Compatibility with major optical design software
  • Ideal for broadband AR coatings, V-coats, step filters, notch filters, and multiband pass applications

Load-Lock System

An optional load-lock system, available in manual or automatic configurations, allows for sample swapping under vacuum. This reduces downtime and increases workflow efficiency, with pump-down times of under 10 minutes.

Who Benefits from the Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS?

The Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS system is ideal for large-scale production of precision optical coatings, filters, anti-reflective coatings, semiconductors, dielectric materials, and superconductors. Designed as a cornerstone for manufacturing, not just a supplemental tool, the system can handle advanced methods, including ion beam-assisted sputtering, co-sputtering, and optical endpoint monitoring.

Applications


Precision Optical Coatings and Filters


Anti-Reflective Coatings


Semiconductors & Dielectrics


Superconductors

The Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS system embodies the perfect balance of innovation, precision, and efficiency, making it the ultimate solution for cutting-edge sputtering and coating applications.

Step into the Future of Photonics

Intlvac's Lithium Niobate Foundry

Available as a Cluster Tool, Individual Modules, or an In-House On-Demand Service.

Nanoquest II IBE

High Aspect-Ratio Etching

Nanoquest II is a precision ion beam etching system designed for advanced R&D in photonic device fabrication. Using a broad-beam ion source and adjustable substrate motion, it enables smooth, uniform material removal across LiNbOā‚ƒ and other challenging materials. Its tunable energy control, in-situ cooling, and flexible masking options ensure exceptional etch quality, making it ideal for fabricating next-generation lithium niobate components.

Read More

Nanochrome IV PARMS

Precision Oxide and Nitride Films

Nanochromeā„¢ IV uses Plasma Assisted Reactive Magnetron Sputtering (PARMS) to deposit dense, uniform oxide and nitride films essential for lithium niobate device fabrication. These coatings enable precise masking, passivation, and optical tuning while maintaining pristine material interfaces. Integrated within Intlvacā€™s cluster environment, Nanochrome IV ensures clean, repeatable processing for high-performance photonic and quantum applications.

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Aegis DLC

Hard Carbon Etch Masking

Aegis DLC enables precision etching for LNOI waveguide fabrication through Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) of a diamond-like carbon hardmask. Its high hardness, adhesion, and selectivity ensure accurate pattern transfer during ion beam etching, producing smooth, high-fidelity lithium niobate structures essential for advanced photonic and quantum devices.

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Nanochrome IV PARMS

Lithium Niobate Foundry

The Nanochromeā„¢ IV utilizes Plasma Assisted Reactive Magnetron Sputtering (PARMS) to deposit highly uniform oxide and nitride thin films essential for every stage of LiNbOā‚ƒ device fabrication. These precision coatings provide the structural, optical, and protective layers required for high-performance photonic devices.

Through PARMS, materials such as SiOā‚‚, Siā‚ƒNā‚„, and Alā‚‚Oā‚ƒ are deposited as dense, conformal films ideal for masking, passivation, and optical layer engineering. During high-aspect-ratio etching in the Nanoquest II, these durable coatings act as robust hard masks that preserve pattern fidelity and protect surfaces under demanding plasma and ion beam conditions. Following nanostructuring, the same dielectric films serve as tuning or passivation layers, enhancing optical confinement and device reliability.

Integrated seamlessly into Intlvacā€™s cluster environment, the PARMS process maintains a continuous, contamination-free workflow from deposition through etch and lift-off. This closed-system integration ensures reproducibility and pristine interfaces, empowering researchers and manufacturers to advance the limits of quantum photonics, high-speed communications, and integrated optical systems.

Aegis DLC

Lithium Niobate Foundry

The Aegis DLC system provides a critical enabling layer for precision etching in LNOI (Lithium Niobate on Insulator) waveguide fabrication. Using Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD), it deposits a thin, diamond-like carbon (DLC) film from hydrocarbon precursors to form a hardmask with exceptional hardness, adhesion, and etch selectivity.

Once deposited, the DLC layer undergoes oxygen plasma patterning to define intricate features with high resolution. Subsequent argon Ion Beam Etching (IBE) transfers these patterns into the underlying lithium niobate substrate, achieving nanometer-level accuracy and smooth, vertical sidewalls. Post-etch cleaning removes the DLC mask, revealing finely structured LNOI waveguides with exceptional optical performance.

By combining mechanical robustness with precise process control, the Aegis DLC module ensures repeatable, high-fidelity pattern transferā€”an indispensable step in producing reliable and scalable photonic devices for advanced communications and quantum technologies.

Nanoquest II

Lithium Niobate Foundry

The Nanoquest II employs a broad-beam ion source combined with fully adjustable substrate motion to achieve precise, purely physical material removal through momentum transfer from inert ions such as argon. This process eliminates the chemical dependencies of plasma etching, providing exceptional control over geometry, uniformity, and surface quality.

With its material-agnostic ion beam etching capability, Nanoquest II can process even the most chemically inert materials, including LiNbOā‚ƒ, SiOā‚‚, and sapphire. Adjustable beam incidence angles and substrate rotation deliver smooth, vertical sidewalls free from redeposition artifacts, while tunable ion energy and in-situ cooling preserve optical integrity by minimizing damage and contamination.

The systemā€™s collimated beam ensures consistent etch rates across wafers up to 200 mm, and compatibility with a wide range of masking materialsā€”including metals and multilayer dielectricsā€”extends process flexibility. Optional tilt-etch cycles and beam neutralization maintain optical-grade smoothness, making Nanoquest II the cornerstone of advanced photonic fabrication in lithium niobate and other challenging substrates.

Thin Film Production Powerhouse

Explore the Latest Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS Brochure

  • Optical Endpoint Monitoring
  • Precision Oxide and TCO Thin Film Deposition
  • Control System and Automation
  • Enhanced Substrate Fixturing

The Nanochromeā„¢ IV PARMS system deposits high-quality dielectric thin films using reactive magnetron sputtering, with final film densification achieved at the substrate surface via a high-current, low-energy ion source. This process allows for faster deposition times and higher raters through low-pressure operation.

Download our latest brochure to read more about Intlvac's flagship thin film deposition system, trusted by industry leaders around the world.

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