Reactive Magnetron Sputter System (RMS)

• Subject Area: Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
• Term: Funded in 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 568739894

In the reactive magnetron sputter system (RMS), thin films of superconducting materials, as well as oxides and nitrides, are deposited using reactive magnetron sputtering. Ultra-pure films can be produced due to the ultra-high vacuum environment. Precise control of the process parameters enables the properties of the deposited films to be tailored. The use of separate chambers for the deposition of superconductors and oxides/nitrides prevents cross-contamination. Typical applications are deposition of superconducting films, e.g., for superconducting electronics, single-photon detectors, and superconducting qubits, deposition of oxide films for, e.g., in-situ passivation of superconducting films, fabrication of heterostructures for photonic devices, deposition of layers for photonic integrated circuits, or deposition of hard masks for subsequent etching processes. The system is embedded in the Central Electronics and Information Technology Laboratory (ZEITlab) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). The ZEITlab is an organizational unit of the School of Computation, Information and Technology (SoCIT). Since 2022, it has been housed in the new TUM Electrical Engineering and Information Technology building on the Garching campus. The center consists of a clean room with an area of 950 m² and associated characterization laboratories. Its vision is to establish a "makerspace for microelectronics prototypes" that supports a wide range of research areas as a broad-based technology center of SoCIT. In the ZEITlab, proof-of-concept demonstrators in the field of electronics and sensor technology are realized on the basis of modern materials and components and made available for various fields of application. This type of "rapid prototyping" uses innovative processing and characterization technologies and is systematically supplemented by circuit design and modelling. ZEITlab provides a central and shared access to micro- and nanofabrication for a large number of research groups working on topics such as quantum and sensor technologies, micro-, opto-, and neuroelectronics, as well as hybrid nanosystems. The bundled infrastructure, therefore, enables an efficient transfer of technologies from basic research to engineering issues and applications.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Reactive Magnetron Sputter System
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Leader: Professor Dr.-Ing. Markus Becherer