AVS 46th International Symposium
    Thin Films Division Monday Sessions
       Session TF-MoA

Paper TF-MoA2
Time-of-Flight Measurements of Sputtered Species using Novel Pulsed High Plasma Density Magnetron Discharge

Monday, October 25, 1999, 2:20 pm, Room 615

Session: Fundamentals and Applications of Ionized PVD
Presenter: K. Macák, Linköping University, Sweden
Authors: K. Macák, Linköping University, Sweden
V. Kouznetsov, Linköping University, Sweden
J.M. Schneider, Linköping University, Sweden
U. Helmersson, Linköping University, Sweden
I. Petrov, University of Illinois, Urbana
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Time resolved plasma probe measurements of a novel high power density pulsed plasma discharge are presented. Extreme peak power densities in the pulse (on the order of several kW.cm@super -2@) result in a very dense plasma with ionic flux densities of up to 1 A.cm@super -2@ at source-to-substrate distances of several cm and at a pressure of 0.13 Pa. The pulse duration was ~50 µs with a pulse repetition frequency of 50 Hz. The plasma consists of metallic and inert gas ions, as determined from time resolved Langmuir probe measurements and in situ optical emission spectroscopy data. The influence from the process parameters on the temporal development of the ionic fluxes is discussed. Deconvolution of metal ion probe current pulse waveform allowed for the calculation of the average ion energy. The ionized portion of sputtered metal flux was found to have an average energy of 2.6 eV in the absence of gas scattering. The obtained energies of the arriving metal ions conform with the collisional cascade sputtering theory. The degree of ionization of the sputtered metal flux at a pressure of 0.13 Pa was found to be 40±20 % by comparing the total flux of deposited atoms with the charge transferred by metal ions in the pulse.