Cressington 108 Sputter Coaters are ideal for routine sample preparation. Compact, economical and simple to operate, they offer rapid pumpdown times, fine-grain coatings and negligible sample heating. Cool, fine-grain sputtering is achieved with a very efficient dc magnetron head. A quick-change target method allows a range of metals to be used. The safety interlocked sputtering supply is fully variable and setting the sputter current is not influenced by vacuum level.

The Cressington 108auto sputter coater offers the choice of manual or automatic operation. The specification also includes automatic vent (with a choice of vent gas) and argon purge control.

In automatic mode the coater can be controlled in two ways. The digital timer can be used to give repeatable coatings or the (optional) MTM-20 controller can be used to terminate the sputtering process at the desired thickness.

The sputter current is set on a digital programmer and is not dependent on the argon gas pressure in the sputtering chamber. Pressure adjustments and current adjustments are carried out separately.

The Cressington 108auto/SE has the same specification as the 108auto except for the larger chamber size of 150mm Ø (5.9") x 165mm (6.5").

The 108auto/SE is intended for use in applications where coating thickness must have a very high degree of uniformity. The unique Rotary-Planetary-Tilt stage, originally developed for the 208hr high resolution coater, can be used on the 108auto/SE.

The modular desktop design combines sputter control unit, pumping system and thickness monitor into an area of only 16" x 24" (42cm x 60cm). The desktop pumping system is fully integrated using a quick release all metal coupling system. The compact high speed rotary pump (30sec to 0.1mb) is mounted on an anti-vibration table with a desktop base.

The pumping system can be easily extended into a dual pumping system to accomodate the Cressington Sputter Coater along side a Cressington Carbon Coater.

All Cressington sputter coaters have a thickness monitor feedthrough port. Two types of high resolution thickness monitors are available. Each monitor has a 4 digit LED display, push button zero, and crystal lifetime check. Resolution is better than 0.1nm for any material.