Design of high-vacuum test station for rapid evaluation of vacuum microelectronic devices

Abstract

A vacuum test station has been designed allowing for rapid evaluation of vacuum microelectronic devices. The system consists of a turbo-pumped vacuum chamber reaching a base pressure, at room temperature, of 3*10/sup -9/ torr. Devices which are fabricated on silicon or fused silica substrates are placed on a copper base which is part of a cold finger cryostat. Test temperatures can be varied from 20 to 500 K. Baking of the devices can be accomplished by thin-film heating elements integrated onto the substrates or by heating coils placed inside the chamber. Cleaning of electrode surfaces can be performed via an argon ion gun system and/or by electron bombardment. The performance of the system is demonstrated for a Spindt emitter array.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>