Tool architecture: modular hardware & software
Customised tool design
Surrey NanoSystems' reputation is built on innovation: our tools often break new ground - such as PECVD at 1200C, or room-temperature nanotube growth. If you require a tool for a novel, unusual or demanding process - Surrey NanoSystems can provide a versatile solution.
Unlike most commercial equipment, Surrey NanoSystems' sputtering and carbon nanotube tools are highly configurable, and can be provided with almost unlimited ports for instrumentation and analysis, with extra load/lock and inline processing facilities etc. We will also customise the control software: examples of our work include recipes for non-uniform deposition such as gradient deposition, or processing segments of the substrate area.
Tool control software / HMI
Surrey NanoSystems' tools are controlled by a sophisticated software package developed over more than six years, which emphasises versatility of processing to support advanced use in research and development. Our NanoSoft software uses MIMIC displays of the system and other graphical techniques to provide fine control over all stages of processing.
Users are typically provided with ready-to-use processing programs, which provide recipe templates that may be adapted easily by users for their own applications. Users also have full manual control of the tool, and can create their own custom processes using a menu-driven user interface to control gas flow rates, voltage and current levels, RF power, temperatures, etc.
Sophisticated datalogging, trending and batch tracking facilities help users to develop and document their own processes, to optimise recipes for commercial production. Remote monitoring is also possible.
This software has been field proven on scientific tools for over six years and is configured to suit the application, and provided under the names of GammaSoft™ or NanoSoft™, for thin film or Carbon Nanotube applications respectively.
Modular automation hardware
Surrey NanoSystems employs modular design and architectural principles when developing tools. This approach has benefits for both Surrey NanoSystems and its users, including simple and fast configuration and system building for custom applications, the ability to configure tools to any scale (way beyond general commercial tools), compact system footprints, and easy upgrade and maintenance throughout a tool's life.
At the heart of the system is an advanced and modular PLC, that provides a versatile platform that can be populated with high counts of conventional digital/analogue I/O and/or fieldbus interfaces, to suit the application.
Distributed control system principles are employed throughout the tool, using the Profibus fieldbus protocol, to simplify wiring, tool layout and minimise footprint. An advanced fieldbus-interfaced I/O building block that accommodates both pneumatic and electrical I/O is used to provide an elegant and space-efficient solution of distributing automation resources around the tool - in any combination to suit the user's requirements.
