VB Sensors is a division of Tangidyne Corp, www.tangidyne.com, the world leader in quartz crystal microbalances!
Inventing, designing and manufacturing the next generation of High Temperature SuperQuartz™(Gallium Phosphate ) QCM's with our exclusive partner, Piezocryst!
We specialize in high temperature heated microbalances for use in measuring thin films deposited in vacuum evaporation and atmospheric deposition systems. We supply the cutting edge GaPO4 "SuperQuartz™" crystals that can operate up to an astounding 900 °C, allowing control of processes that previously couldn't be monitored.
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| UHT 300 SuperQuartz Sensor Head |
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| UHT300™
Introducing the world's first high temperature Super Quartz™ (GaPO4) heated film thickness monitor sensor head. Guaranteed 100% compatible with all commercially available film thickness monitors and controllers, including Inficon™, Maxtek™, Sigma Instruments™ and Sycon Instruments™. Protected by US Patent 7275436, October, 2007. |
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| SuperQuartz R20™
Gold coated 6 MHz single crystal Gallium Orthophosphate for use in UHT300™ high temperature film thickness monitoring heads(from room temperature up to 300°C). Compatible with all commercially available 6 MHz film thickness monitors and controllers!
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| SuperQuartz R30™
Platinum coated 6 MHz single crystal Gallium Orthophosphate for extreme film thickness monitoring, up to 970°C, using your own, custom refractory sensor head. Compatible with all commercially available 6 MHz film thickness monitors. |
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Why use SuperQuartz™ and Heated FilmThickness Monitor Heads?
The use of quartz crystals, often called quartz crystal microbalances, or QCM’s to monitor the deposition of thin films by vacuum processes has been an industry norm since the late 1960's. By measuring the resonance frequency of an oscillating crystal, one can determine the thickness of a metal or dielectric coating to within 1 Angstrom. This has proven to be an invaluable tool for process control and manufacture of optical and solid state electronic devices.
Due to its frequency-temperature behavior, however, quartz is limited to operating temperatures of 100 º C or less, and in most cases, must be water cooled to insure accurate and reproducible readings. Unfortunately, many advanced thin film coating processes operate in significantly hotter environments, including chemical vapor deposition (CVD), Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and electron beam evaporation. In such cases, the performance of the quartz crystal is simply inadequate.
Much has changed in the past few years to improve microbalance technology. First and foremost, a new "Super Quartz™” in the form of single crystal Gallium Orthophosphate has been invented. This material operates exactly like Quartz, but is stable up to an astounding 970° C. This opens up new possibilities for thin film research and process control.
An immediate application is the real-time monitoring of low temperature CVD of oxide materials using a precursor material such as tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), for example. A GaPO4 microbalance crystal can be heated, in a suitable sensor holder, to the decomposition temperature of TEOS. As the TEOS breaks apart, leaving a thin film of silicon oxide, the crystal frequency changes and is monitored by a commercial film thickness monitor.
An additional benefit of GaPO4 is it has twice the vibrational amplitude of Quartz and a higher electromechanical coupling coefficient. This conceivably could lead to the ultimate QCM. (For the exact material constants of single crystal gallium orthophosphate, go here)
Tangidyne Corp has the exclusive World Wide rights to GaPO4 (SuperQuartz™) for vacuum microbalance applications. |
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