DIY Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) using Thermal Evaporation

This video discusses the building process of a system for doing Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD).
0:00 Intro
1:09 Thin film technology
1:56 Principle of PVD
3:22 Limitations of thermal evaporation
4:48 Thermal source construction
5:50 Required vacuum conditions
7:25 System layout and construction
9:25 Turbo screw up
10:25 Technical aspects
12:02 Plasma cleaning
14:02 Quick evaporation tests
Apart from some technical aspects of the machine, I also discuss the background of thermal evaporation as a technique to do PVD. The system will be used in the future to make small optical devices using photolithography.

[@graealex]

Channel is criminally underrated.

[@WaynesStrangeBrain]

I don't know, it's doing about 50 times better than me. Which is fair.

[@graealex]

@@kevinbissinger Not sure. Applied Science, which featured his channel some timely ago, is equally technical and has many more subscribers.

[@graealex]

@@kevinbissinger Applied Science got big after some media picked up his DIY electron microscope, which he also showed at a Maker Faire. In the same sense that Huygens probably gathered a lot of subscribers after AS linked a video of his in his own video. I would have never known about Huygens and never subscribed if AS hadn't linked it. Media exposure is definitely not a democratic or logical process based on quality or content. Rather there is a lot of luck and "critical mass" involved. With enough subscribers, your videos will get recommended more to people not already subscribed, so you have a lot more potential to get the videos viewed by people who are potentially interested in it.

[@HuygensOptics]

@Alexander Gräf @Kevin Bissinger Your comments made me think about this a little more and I realized that I'm actually not interested in getting a lot of subscribers at all. In fact I would have made these videos regardles whether there are 500 or 500K. I just want to reach an audience with similar interest as I have and hopefully interact with them. So if that is just a small group, that is just fine with me. I would be surprised if my subscriber count would ever go over 10K and frankly I have no desire that it will.

[@graealex]

@@HuygensOptics Idk, Marco Reps, who also watches your videos and also does very technical videos, has 176K subscribers, and that doesn't seem to hurt him. Plus, with a larger viewer base and maybe even a Patreon, you might be able to afford more stuff you can use as-is, instead of having to build it yourself - or just being out of reach at all. Even used stuff from Ebay can be quite expensive.

[@Stoneman06660]

Utterly gobsmacked that you're doing this as an individual. It really is remarkable work and your explanations and presentation of content is excellent. Thank you.

[@paruhblgen4222]

In Moscow University, we had such lab of 2 rooms, it was run by one woman who applied films, and one man who polished substrates. And it consumed lots of ethanol to clean which was once more rectified before use. They took orders from all university and outsude for specipic mirrors for lasers, experiments etc.

[@reps]

Brilliant! I want to make NiCr thin film resistors on ceramic substrates some day and am taking notes :)

[@HuygensOptics]

Maybe it's time for a joint project Marco. I might even have some Hoechst ltcc materials in my cupboard...

[@JerryBiehler]

Probably going to want to sputter that.

[@EpicHardware]

very cool, we now have inventors gatherings organized by the KZbin algorithm, See you both on the next video :)

[@dekonfrost7]

I have a Project also.

[@a_pakhomov]

Ni is tricky for thermal evaporation, it corrodes refractory metals immediately when liquid. Cr can be deposited from special Cr plated electrodes from solid state. I failed to get any successful results with Ni whatsoever. Lesker guide ( www.lesker.com/newweb/deposition_materials/materialdepositionchart.cfm?pgid=0 ) recommends using Al2O3 coated boats, so that should work. Or sputtering.

[@user-oj4xh8cg2l]

man, I must say I'm impressed. Having worked on these kind of machines in clean rooms, I know how fragile and finicky they are even profesionnally maintained on a regular basis, so building some with repaired defective parts that takes some perseverance and dedication.

[@as-qh1qq]

He made a thermal PVD! In his home! Who is this guy ? Is he mad? Absolutely incredible. Hats off to you.

[@AppliedScience]

Really nice work! How did you bond the copper cooling pipes in the glass feed through for the boat holder? That turbopump spin-down noise must have had very high pucker factor!

[@HuygensOptics]

Hi Ben, thanks for stopping by. The pipes were bonded using a vacuum compatible epoxy (Araldite 2020). Because these joints would stay cool during use, there was no reason for using special metal-to-glass joints, which would have been way more difficult to realise. The pipes have a very narrow fit in the glass disk, so the amount of epoxy surface in contact with the chamber is negligible anyway. The turbo actually did not spin down fast, it displayed these short irregular blips in the frequency, almost as if the filter was "dancing" on top of the rotor, extracting small amounts of kinetic energy from it each time it touched the top of the rotor blades. I consider myself very lucky that it did not end up between the blades...

[@EpicHardware]

very cool, we now have inventors gatherings organized by the KZbin algorithm, See you both on the next video :)

[@dakotabass42]

Going from 0 experience to medium/high-vacuum quality Tig welds is also very impressive! Overall machine wiring was very clean as well

[@fizzyplazmuh9024]

Pucker factor? More like shit a brick. If I even thought something got loose in my TMP I would hit the floor in terror for fear of shrapnel to my body and to my wallet.

[@Skunkhunt_42]

@@fizzyplazmuh9024 yea its gnarly, a colleague sent one to the junk yard just with droplet condensation. Apparently newer TMP's are more "resilient" but I'm skeptical. For my work diffusion pump and cryo get where we need and we like em for their resilience and serviceability

[@christiansprojects-cgmanuf1426]

One hint for future high vacuum welding: Start your weld 10mm next to the parts you want to weld together and move on from there. Then, before releasing the trigger, again move 10mm away from the weld. Like this, you will eliminate many leaks because leaks often occure at the starting or finishing point of a weld. If the starting and stopping point is on solid material and not on the gap, you won't have a leak there. I'm not a professional welder too but have worked 7 years as a maintenance technician on a jumbo-size Glass PVD-Coater. The chamber of these is around 100 meters long, containing 220 Turbo molecular pumps. Also I want to say that this is an awesome Project! Thanks for the video.

[@NegatioNZor]

Christ, watching this channel feels like being a kid, hanging out with the "neighborhood crazy professor" or something. I feel like I'm learning so many cool things, but I'm also worried things could go wrong at some point (like with the turbo). However, this guy obviously seems to know his stuff! The MacGyver of Optics

[@johnconrad5487]

You sir are one of the most brilliant people I have seen in my 84 years of life working as an Engineer for 60 years, where I have met several brilliant engineers. Seeing what you built by yourself is amazing. This is the most amazing video I have seen on YT. After seeing metal deposition inside an incandescent light bulb I have been interested in doing something like this. BUT after seeing what is required.. well.. forget it.. :):):) Thanks for sharing.

[@JasonDrennen]

Mad respect for you bud. I can only imagine the long hours and tedious work you went through. When you condense it down to a 15 minute video a lot of people don't realize how much work you really did.

[@injesusname3732]

bud, show some respect

[@fredfred2363]

And no-one is mentioning the very diverse, and high level skill sets used. You just don't encounter individuals like this very often in life.

[@Crobisaur]

You basically built a lot of the equipment we had in my grad lab. What an amazing setup!

[@tibor2077]

Indeed.

[@dancollins1012]

Mind blowing. Is it the most technologically advanced work achieved by an individual on youtube?

[@helmut666kohl]

Depends on your angle of view I guess. Maybe look at Applied Science. But it's pretty far out in terms of "private person builds crazy scientific stuff in basement" :-)

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

I mean, that teenager who built a working fusion chamber in his bedroom!!! That is some savant level Lego skill right there.

[@Deez-Master]

Its definitely up there, if you like this scale of individual accomplishment check out Ben from applied science's homemade electron microscope :)

[@WanderTheNomad]

I think The Thought Emporium has made something similar, if not exactly the same. Though I think that video was posted after this one came out.

[@Alexander_Sannikov]

@@WanderTheNomad thought emporium is a schoolkid compared to this guy in terms of actual technical knowledge. his setup also barely worked and only with a couple metals when this is just amazing performance with really strong bonding.

[@Bmotiontech]

I'm really impressed. I worked in a wafer fab thin film department for 10 years and I never disassembled the turbo pump down to this level.

[@donaldbiden1920]

It's channels like yours that make youtube worthwhile, thank you

[@ducttapegarage2571]

Watching your video is like giving myself a brain massage! Thank you!

[@user-cr5wt6gl2o]

You're not a man - you're the industry yourself! I'm stunned Respect!

[@gcr100]

I also have damaged a turbo myself its very infuriating to know something happened because of your own mistakes, this is an amaizing build btw

[@HypeBeast764]

I came across this video years ago wondering how anyone would find a DIY application for this but now I’m back so thanks for making this!

[@testingandtrackdays8651]

Incredibly complex procedures made simple by your explanation. Amazing you are doing this as an individual

[@topsykrett9171]

Ok this is just impressive, i have been watching a lot of people do advanced DIY projects, but this pushes the horizon a fair bit further for me. Wish you the best of luck in achieving your goals.

[@joshmyer9]

I wasn't looking at the screen when you talked about the turbo accident, so I nearly burned myself when I got distracted from cooking by the "oh shit" moment it gave me. Glad you got lucky, and I'm really looking forward to the next videos!!

[@vincei4252]

This is what KZbin was made for. Thank you for this tour de force and sharing your mistakes.

[@EnhancedNightmare]

We had a faulty turbo pump delivered as replacement once in our lab and it worked about 3 days before it literally exploding. The insides were sphaghtetti but some of the fins flew out and peppered the walls, some got stuck as well. It was very lucky no one was inside that lab in the moment.

[@frl8031]

my word, you are VERY clever. I'm grateful to live in a world with people like you. Fascinating.

[@ZaksLab]

Yeah! Super excited to find this. I'm a college physics/math instructor and I just did a lot of thin film interference videos, but I've never really learned how they are manufactured in practice.

[@HuygensOptics]

I looked up some of the videos (on the fluoride layers) on your channel. Well done and very clear explanations on how to calculate layer thickness!

[@ZaksLab]

@@HuygensOptics thanks! looking forward to digging into your channel as well -- Zak

[@Heisenberg2097]

This is not the average DIY quality level. So you get a DQI of 0.8!!! THX for the interesting video!

[@aurora7207]

Very nice job. I genuinely appreciate the inclusion of the missteps that occurred for our enlightenment, we learn by our mistakes.

[@alexbrown4023]

Amazing! Thank you for being so candid about the bits that did not go so well, I learn a lot when the negatives are shared as well as the positives. Oh and well done!

[@glentyan2505]

The skill that I see here is the varied and multiple discipline skills that are needed to design, build, operate and evaluate this project from the ground up covering electronics, electrics, mechanics and physics to name but a few. Excellent channel.

[@perdidoanonimo]

Excellent work and video! Please, write a book sort of "PVD from scratch", "PVD for the homebrewer", "PVD for Dummies" or something like that, I would love to buy it and try something similar! You are very talented, congratulations!

[@oddjobbob8742]

The brilliance of that mirror is just amazing. If there hadn’t been a reflection I would have thought I was looking into a black hole, a hole into nothing. Your first welds were the ugliest YOU have produced, but I when it comes to the ugliest in the world, my first welds we’re uglier. Thank you for taking the time to produce this fine YT.

[@AllisterCaine]

What you are doing in your garage is God damn impressive. I make shoes at home to a professional level but this makes me feel like a caveman just banging two rocks together. Amazing.

[@iliya-malecki]

I really hope your channel becomes the new big thing! Your authentic (in youtube terms), terrifyingly scientific way of presenting the information makes me feel like a real scientist, even though I'm just an engineer, and this is what society needs (I mean other people's feelings too, i'd love society to need me to feel good but oh well), in my opinion. Not to mention the superb quality of the info you share, you are combining best parts of the scientific method and youtube trends in a truly fascinating way!

[@joesipaq]

Congrats on getting your PVD done! Looking forward to sitting down and taking a good look at this video :D

[@benterrell9139]

Amazing. My father worked at Cambridge instruments in the 1970s and told me about the vacuum pumps they were using for the electron microscopes. You really don't want to be near those during a problem. Great video.

[@nirvana613]

What a delight it is to stumble upon this channel ! Great explanation and terrific presentation quality, looking forward to more !

[@tamasmihaly1]

This set up is so intimidating. The dedication is impressive.

[@timbehrens9678]

The amount of knowledge and skills demonstrated in depth on this channel is just mind boggling. Thank you for sharing your experience with us!

[@Stellarffxi]

This is incredible... Really impressive the amount of knowledge you're carrying around!

[@EDGE94]

I hope Mr. Huygens is a lecturer or teacher in any form, as his content is didactically splendid! 👏

[@PhilJonesIII]

And I was feeling pleased with myself for building a setup to control camera direction for astrophotography. I built a handcart, this guy builds a lorry. Still, inspires me to do more, much more. Thanks for posting.

[@fluffy_tail4365]

The chamber you made looks like an incredible piece of work. Congratulation!

[@fjs1111]

That PVD is so well made! Excellent work and thank you as always. I like the system diagram, LCD, welds and every detail.

[@EricTViking]

Nice work! Brings back a lot of memories, I used to write control software for commercial PVD & IBD systems. I once dumped a turbo pump to air which made a mighty whistle (luckily the turbo survived). Dumping one to aluminium is very spectacular 😂

[@malectric]

I'm in awe of what you've done. You make what few accomplishments I've achieved trivial by comparison. I am thoroughly enjoying your videos and thank you for making them available.

[@jonasdaverio9369]

Somehow DIY and PVD seem to contradict each other. But you managed to put them together, I'm very impressed

[@CRA404462]

The amount of knowledge required to make such equipment is huge!! Thanks

[@kentvandervelden]

Absolutely amazing work. I can't begin to understand the total effort that has gone in to this, but I'm glad you shared it. Very interesting!

[@7sArts]

Found your channel from looking at the variable mirror experiment and wound up spending hours checking out the other gems, time well spent even if watching at 1.75x to get more info in less time. You rock, thanks for sharing your mind. Tesla would be proud at the level of sharing expertise. Thanks again.

[@alexscarbro796]

Fanatic. Your presentation and explanation was very clear and concise. Well done!

[@kpogatchnik]

You got he hooked on the channel after watching one video- very cool. Keep them coming

[@KravchenkoAudioPerth]

I watch and learn something every time. Thank you for such well presented videos of a complex subject!

[@VijayNinel]

Brilliant engineering skills. Amazing that you are able to do this all by yourself.

[@JoolsParker]

Awesome. What I love about this video is that you explain every little part of the device and what it does in the overall process, which all makes perfect sense. This demystifies what would otherwise look like an overly complex looking piece of science equipment that looks like something you'd see at the end of a particle accelerator or something. The fact you made this on your own... mind blowing!

[@dale116dot7]

This looks very similar to the system I was using to deposit gold (around 200 angstroms) on Mylar film for microphones. I used a small diffusion pump and a tungsten boat with a big truck battery charger for a power supply (maybe 50 amps), and I only waited to around half a micron of vacuum. I was lucky that the deposition time didn’t cause a problem with heating. Great to see another similar setup!

[@tylerpferrari]

What an absolutely amazing channel! Please keep making these videos as they are extremely satisfying to watch.

[@TheIndustrialphreak]

I gotta say thank you so much, its not often epic level particle physics is explained like this for average laypeople with real work examples and video. Thank you so much!

[@geoffallibone1414]

I am in awe of your daring-do. Thank you for publishing.

[@haenselundgretel654]

Duuuuuuuude! This PVD machine itself is more than a hobby! My highest respect for you, mate! And cheers for this perfect video explaining so well and so much! You are gorgeous!!!

[@jasonkocher3513]

I'm rebuilding a very old evaporator for my lab, and this video helps a lot. Thank you so much!

[@pladselsker8340]

this has to be one of the most incredible channel out there. you are fabulous!

[@joansparky4439]

Fascinating. Having done this as a student at a TU on 20 year old machines only and here seeing someone building his own with a lot of detail that was never mentioned. Thanks!

[@Karebear9001]

Marvelous scrapping! Amazing work

[@mlgboy1]

What a fantastic project, beautifully explained and with stunning results. Very impressive indeed sir and i learned more about PVD from this one video than from any other source. you actually made it super interesting. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

[@ahmetcihatboz]

I have no idea about what are you doing at the beginning but after watching i learned a lot. Thanks for such a nice demonstration!

[@GavinM161]

Great explanations without scaring people off. Thank you.

[@michaelhompus2475]

Nice video! It brought back a lot of memories from my 'working life'. 'Been there, done that' sort of things. I was involved in developing vacuum coating systems in a company that started from scratch (as I did too).

[@raf8314]

Thank you for your work, it is astonishing how good you explain the topic !

[@as-qh1qq]

Every aspect of this video is phenomenal!

[@handyman7147]

Incredible indeed. A complex task that need a lot of varied Skills - like TIG :) - for an individual to undertake. Your explanation is also great though you can't elaborate all the nitty-gritty in short videos. As someone here suggested please consider writing a book on DIY PVD. Thank you.

[@marcfruchtman9473]

Great video., I am amazed that the turbo was not destroyed. Awesome engineering!

[@michaelbledsoe1060]

Nice work. I spent 29 years working in thin film optical coatings. E-guns, resistive sources, and sputtering. Enjoyed watching and listening.

[@georgewaller7080]

Incredible work. Such captivating and enjoyable content.

[@nanocnc]

Outstanding! This tickled my brain and connected so many dots about the PVD process. Thank you for sharing.

[@treelineresearch3387]

These builds are mind blowing, amazing channel

[@randyleaf1026]

Well done! Excellent workmanship.

[@AA-gl1dr]

Amazing. I’m so glad the algorithm blessed me with your channel. Keep it up please!

[@excitedbox5705]

This is amazing. It is my dream to have the resources to build my own vacuum deposition tools. I find it fascinating how much control can be had over these processes.

[@gopalpedapallikar334]

Thank you for the excellent explanation on a very complicated process.

[@robairey7819]

Wonderful to watch such technical expertise and skill. Brilliant, thank you.

[@AliSot2000]

This is so cool. This channel contains so much knowledge I didn’t even know I was curious about.

[@klx6265]

The sheer level of commitment to your craft is inspiring. This is what quality youtube looks like. To work for all those months to produce a small round piece of glass, shiny and chrome. More beautiful than a diamond, given we know the processes that went into creating it. Absolutely amazing channel sir, hoping to see more of your videos in the future.

[@sushpants]

what an amazing machine! Thank you for taking the time to show your process.

[@josephf6785]

Absolutely fascinating work, and great presentation as always! I cannot wait to see what you will do with this.

[@drdefecation]

Wow, very impressive. Really looking forward to what you will make using this machine.

[@josecruzado1194]

Puedo asegurar que cualquiera de los que hemos terminado de ver este vídeo, ha quedado sorprendido. Nunca imaginé encontrarme con esto en KZbin ¡es increíble! Muchas gracias por compartir tu grandioso conocimiento.

[@KNemo1999]

I was always late returning films. I could have deposited them in a drop-off box on my way to work, but I would generally forget, and Blockbuster would kill me in late fees. With Netflix, I don't know that your plans for depositing thin films are needed anymore. I think you are about 15 years too late, but I am no expert. I hope this feeds the algorithm. Very cool.

[@herbertbuhlmann3679]

Wow, I'm humbled and motivated, excellent work.

[@andymouse]

I have worked in this field and you have done an awesome job, so skilled ! lucky with your pump though !...cheers.

[@dmeemd7787]

Not sure how I hadn't found this channel until a couple videos ago.. DEFINITELY know the name!! AMAZING content!! So happy this channel is just as amazing (actually more) as I had hoped! 😊

[@DeddyHermansyah]

WOWW WOWW !!! REALLY AMAZING !! I Never think about creating a device like this can be done with DIY... Really enjoyed the whole video.. thanks!

[@rickt1866]

you knocked it out of the ball park, love it.

[@exposingthedarknesswiththe9190]

*THAT WAS EXCITING TO WATCH, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS MORE OF AN EXERCISE OF SIMPLY LISTENING WHILE ATTEMPTING TO UNDERSTAND, BUT FUN.* *THANKS FOR SHARING.*

[@tachionx2]

Great, simply great. In your channel you are doing in reality everything I always dreamed to make myself but that I could not do... Tons, tons of congrats :)

[@robindebreuil]

I now understand why ASML is in the Netherlands. Amazing work.

[@JigilJigil]

Applied Materials in US is the key producer of deposition equipments, ASML is a lithography equipment manufacturer.

[@Tadesan]

I absolutely love that vacuum rotation mechanism.

[@RichardGreco]

Wow, great job! When I first saw this video suggestion I though how hard could that be. But...wow. Being spoiled like I am buying components I need makes it so much easier. I need to do something like this at the house for a hobby.

[@Cambeast123]

Been binging your channel the past week. Wish I had an uncle/grandpa/etc like yourself, I'd learn so much!

[@mvadu]

Mind blowing stuff.. The piezoelectric crystal's mass and induced change in resonance frequency to measure the thickness of coating is really impressive science

[@h.vanzeijl3057]

great video, both from an engineering and educational perspective