Paper TF-WeE2
Substrate Heating during Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 6:00 pm, Room Makai

Substrate heating by the plasma during magnetron sputtering is known to occur, however, there have been very few detailed studies of this process which involves a combination of bombardment by ions, excited and neutral species and UV radiation incident on the substrate. We have studied the heating of the substrate during DC magnetron sputtering of a 4” titanium target as a function of the experimental conditions; plasma power, Ar gas pressure, floating, grounded and biased substrates. We have also studied the substrate heating during reactive sputtering mode by using a gas mixture of argon with nitrogen. On the other hand, it is known that the crystalline orientation of titanium nitride depends on the sputtering conditions. Here we report the effect of the plasma substrate heating, as a consequence of the plasma conditions, on the morphology and the crystalline structure of titanium nitride. The properties of the films were analyzed using SEM and X-ray Diffraction and the film thickness was measured using a stylus profilometer. The measurements of the non-reactive sputtering showed that the substrate temperature could reach temperatures higher than 200ºC with a plasma power of 200W and showed a non uniform temperature distribution over the substrate, with the highest temperature in front at the racetrack and the lowest temperatures in front of the edge of the target. Finally by using a Fluke Ti300 camera we show the temperature change in the substrate with time for both reactive and non-reactive processes.