Measurement of energy flux to a substrate by thermal and Langmuir probes during inductively coupled plasma assisted DC magnetron sputtering

Abstract

To understand the deposition mechanism during the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted DC magnetron sputter-deposition of transparent conductive Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films, energy flux to a substrate was investigated. The total energy flux to a substrate (Jtotal) was measured by two types of thermal probes: one for the absolute value measurement of Jtotal at a fixed position, and the other for the spatial distribution measurement of Jtotal. The contribution due to charged species (Jch) was evaluated by the Langmuir probe measurements of plasma parameters. As a result, it was found that i) Jtotal was about 3000 W m−2 for the typical deposition condition and this value was about one order of magnitude larger than those of conventional planar magnetron sputtering, and ii) most of Jtotal was contributed by plasma charged species.

Energy distribution function of substrate incident negative ions in magnetron sputtering of metal-doped ZnO target measured by magnetized retarding field energy analyzer

“…Indium-free metal-doped zinc oxide, Ga− or Al-doped ZnO (GZO, AZO) is attractive as an environmentally friendly transparent conductive oxide and is expected to be one of the candidates to replace ITO. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] A problem with planar magnetron sputter deposition using oxide targets is that the film composition and crystallinity on the substrate surface opposite the eroded area of the target is reduced. This has multiple causes.…”

Noncontact measurement of substrate temperature by optical low-coherence interferometry in high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering

“…23) The measurement of the heat influx to the substrate is important for controlling the film quality or elucidating the substrate heating mechanism, and has been performed by many researchers. [24][25][26][27][28][29] Čada et al measured the energy flux in pulsed DC sputtering using a calorimeter probe consisting of a copper disk and a TC. 25) Cormier et al measured the energy flux in HiPIMS using the heat flux microsensor (HFM) consisting of a resistance temperature detector (Pt100) and a thermopile.…”