3D PIC-MC simulation of anode effects in dual magnetron discharges

Melzig, Thomas; Siemers, Michael; Pflug, Andreas; Rank, Rolf

doi:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2013.10.024

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…In this work, a parallelized 3D PICMC simulation code [21] developed at the Fraunhofer IST is used to model the plasma discharge time evolution by self-consistently computing charged particle trajectories and their electric field distribution. For all presented numerical studies, the magnetic field generated by the permanent magnets of the planar magnetron is first computed in the simulation model corresponding to its experimental counterpart.…”

Section: Numerical Codementioning

confidence: 99%

Afterglow dynamics of plasma potential in bipolar HiPIMS discharges

Avino

Manke

Richard

et al. 2021

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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In bipolar magnetron sputtering, the plasma afterglow is initiated by switching the target bias from a negative to positive voltage. In the following, the plasma potential evolution in this configuration is characterized, being responsible for the ion acceleration at the substrate sheath potential fall, in particular in high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS). A mass-energy analyzer and a Langmuir probe respectively measure the ion energies and the plasma/floating potential at different positions within HiPIMS discharges. A plasma potential drop and rise in the first 45 μs of the afterglow is observed, settling in the plasma bulk towards values below the applied positive bias. The measured ion energies agree with the plasma potential values before and after the drop-rise. To gain more comprehensive insights into the mechanisms responsible for such a potential evolution, particle-in-cell Monte Carlo 3D simulations of bipolar direct current magnetron sputtering discharges are explored in equivalent geometries. Despite their average power being orders of magnitude lower compared to the HiPIMS configuration, a similar afterglow behavior is observed. This indicates that the measured dynamics are not specific to HiPIMS, but rather a feature of bipolar magnetron sputtering. The responsible mechanisms are studied further: the effects of various system parameters are decoupled, with the magnetic field configuration emerging as crucial for the plasma potential drop-rise dynamics and the associated re-ionization close to the target.

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Section: Numerical Codementioning

confidence: 99%

Afterglow dynamics of plasma potential in bipolar HiPIMS discharges

Avino

Manke

Richard

et al. 2021

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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“…In this work, the PICMC code developed at the Fraunhofer IST [17][18][19] is used with a discharge current ranging from 3 mA to 16 mA. The plasma chemical reactions used in the model are summarized in table 2.…”

Section: Pic-mc and Model Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetron sputtering: determining scaling relations towards real power discharges using 3D particle-in-cell Monte Carlo models

Tonneau

Pflug

Lucas

2020

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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Plasma simulation of glow-magnetized discharges with the particle-in-cell Monte Carlo (PICMC) method is constraint to low current densities because of otherwise huge computational requirements. The present work aims to show, how it is nevertheless possible to extrapolate information for higher current densities similar to realistic lab or industrial conditions by applying a scaling strategy on the simulation. This is demonstrated for a DC magnetron sputtering (DCMS) case study involving the following species: Ar, Ar+, Ti, Ti+ and electrons. The evolution of the electron density is extracted from the simulation and compared with experimental values obtained with a Langmuir probe. A linear relationship between the electron density and the discharge current is highlighted and explained by studying the reaction rates of both ionization and excitation collisions. This allows to scale the reaction rates with the discharge parameters: the Ar-electron impact ionization and excitation rates scale linearly with the discharge current, while the electron impact ionization rate of sputtered species scales quadratically with the discharge current. The simulations also feature propagating plasma instabilities, so-called spokes, but in average, the above-mentioned scaling laws hold. Consequently, the flux of particles at the substrate during a plasma deposition process at realistic power density can be extrapolated from a 3D PICMC simulation at lower power density. Finally, the validity domain of the scaling strategy is discussed in the light of the model constraints.

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“…The code used to perform the simulations of the particle transport in the deposition chamber had been developed at the Fraunhofer IST [29][30][31]. It implements a direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) algorithm: particles move through a discretized computational space-time domain as described in figure 2.…”

Section: Gas Phase Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

TiO_xdeposited by magnetron sputtering: a joint modelling and experimental study

Tonneau

Moskovkin

Pflug

et al. 2018

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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This paper presents a 3D multiscale simulation approach to model magnetron reactive sputter deposition of TiO x⩽2 at various O 2 inlets and its validation against experimental results. The simulation first involves the transport of sputtered material in a vacuum chamber by means of a three-dimensional direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) technique. Second, the film growth at different positions on a 3D substrate is simulated using a kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) method. When simulating the transport of species in the chamber, wall chemistry reactions are taken into account in order to get the proper content of the reactive species in the volume. Angular and energy distributions of particles are extracted from DSMC and used for film growth modelling by kMC.Along with the simulation, experimental deposition of TiO x coatings on silicon samples placed at different positions on a curved sample holder was performed. The experimental results are in agreement with the simulated ones. For a given coater, the plasma phase hysteresis behaviour, film composition and film morphology are predicted. The used methodology can be applied to any coater and any films. This paves the way to the elaboration of a virtual coater allowing a user to predict composition and morphology of films deposited in silico.

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3D PIC-MC simulation of anode effects in dual magnetron discharges

Cited by 14 publications

References 2 publications

Afterglow dynamics of plasma potential in bipolar HiPIMS discharges

Afterglow dynamics of plasma potential in bipolar HiPIMS discharges

Magnetron sputtering: determining scaling relations towards real power discharges using 3D particle-in-cell Monte Carlo models

TiO_xdeposited by magnetron sputtering: a joint modelling and experimental study

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3D PIC-MC simulation of anode effects in dual magnetron discharges

Cited by 14 publications

References 2 publications

Afterglow dynamics of plasma potential in bipolar HiPIMS discharges

Afterglow dynamics of plasma potential in bipolar HiPIMS discharges

Magnetron sputtering: determining scaling relations towards real power discharges using 3D particle-in-cell Monte Carlo models

TiOxdeposited by magnetron sputtering: a joint modelling and experimental study

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TiO_xdeposited by magnetron sputtering: a joint modelling and experimental study