| AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Advanced Surface Engineering | Thursday Sessions |
| Session SE+PS-ThM |
| Session: | Pulsed Plasmas in Surface Engineering (8:00-10:00 am)/Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas (10:40 am-12:00 pm) |
| Presenter: | P. Raman, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign |
| Authors: | P. Raman, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign L. Meng, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign H. Yu, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign D.N. Ruzic, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign M. Schilling, Dexter Magnetic Technologies, Inc S. Amstrong, Kurt J. Lesker Company |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Magnetic field design is critical in magnetron sputtering systems at it affects the plasma parameters and film quality. Most magnetic field configurations are designed for DC sputtering and they suffer from low target utilization, non-uniform ionized metal atoms, etc. High Power Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS) discharge has high degree of ionization of the sputtered material with very high peak power on the target [1]. Therefore HIPIMS is an ideal candidate for the next generation magnetron sputtering systems. There are no magnetic field configurations that are optimized for HIPIMS discharge. It has been confirmed from our previous work on HIPIMS that a spiral-shaped magnetic field design on 36 cm diameter copper target was able to produce superior plasma uniformity on the substrate in addition to improved target utilization without the need for magnet rotation [2]. Commercial 4 inch sputter cathodes are very popular as they function with a wide variety of target materials and they can be operated with DC, RF and Pulsed-DC power supplies. These 4 inch cathode guns typically have a conventional circular magnetic field design (old). To optimize the magnet field configuration in HIPIMS for the 4 inch cathode gun, the spiral design (new) from the 36mm target was shrunk in size to produce the same magnetic field on the 4 inch target surface. In order to understand the effects of new magnet field configuration, the old and new magnet field configurations were tested in HIPIMS, Z-pulser and DC power supplies side by side using two 4 inch guns for deposition rate, film density, film uniformity and film stress. Plasmas from each power supply were diagnosed (ne, Te, ionization fraction) for the new and old magnet filed configuration in order to understand the pulsing parameters for better plasma control.
References
1. J. Bohlmark, J. Alami, C. Christou, A. P. Ehiasarian and U. Helmersson, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A, 23, 18 (2005).
2. He Yu, Liang Meng, Matthew M. Szott, Jake T. McLain, Tae S. Cho and David. N. Ruzic, Investigation and Optimization of Magnetic Field Configuration in High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol (Submitted).