Cylindrical DC Magnetron Sputtering Assisted by Microwave Plasma

Abstract

A new magnetron sputtering apparatus assisted by microwave plasma has been developed to achieve high sputter deposition rates at low gas pressures. In this apparatus, a microwave plasma is produced in a cylindrical multipolar magnetron arrangement and utilized for DC magnetron sputtering deposition. With the assistance of microwave plasma, operation of the magnetron discharge has been achieved at pressures on the order of 10 −4 Torr. Aluminum films are deposited in this apparatus at rates greater than 50 nm/min even at the low gas pressure of 2.5 × 10 −4 Torr.

Experimental study of a radio-frequency Ionized Physical Vapour Deposition process: Contamination by the internal coil

“…IPVD reactors consist of a magnetron discharge assisted by an additional plasma source which ionizes the sputtered vapour flowing from the magnetron. Reactors using helicon [6], Electron Cyclotron Resonance coupled discharge [7] or microwave surface wave plasma [8] have already been studied but most of the IPVD reactors use radio-frequency coils to create the additional ionization [2,3,[9][10][11].…”

Atomistic view on thin film nucleation and growth by using highly ionized and pulsed vapour fluxes

“…These discharge conditions are accessible by a variety of plasma-based physical vapour deposition techniques, such as pulsed laser deposition (PLD) [18], filtered cathodic arc (FCA) [19], inductively coupled plasma assisted discharged [20,21] or microwave assisted magnetron sputtering discharges [22][23][24][25]. Magnetic coils in combination with unbalanced magnetrons can also be used to tune the discharge gas ion flux for ion assisted film growth [26].…”

Low temperature fabrication of indium-tin oxide film by using ionized physical vapor deposition method

“…On the other hand, a sputter machine equipped with high density plasma, called as IPVD, was very effective for forming denser films with good optical and electrical properties at the low temperatures [5]. In order to increase the plasma density, various activating sources such as helicon plasma, microwave plasma, Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) plasma, ICP, and ion beam source have been introduced [6][7][8][9], but most of the IPVD systems have used ICP reactor with radio-frequency (RF) coils due to high efficiency and low price.…”