AVS 47th International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session PS-WeP

Paper PS-WeP14
Reactive Sputtering of Al@sub2@O@sub3@ in a Cylindrical Hollow Cathode Magnetron

Wednesday, October 4, 2000, 11:00 am, Room Exhibit Hall C & D

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: A. Pradhan, University of Delaware
Authors: A. Pradhan, University of Delaware
D. Guerin, University of Delaware
S.I. Shah, University of Delaware
Correspondent: Click to Email
Hollow Cathode Sputtering offers the advantage of 360-degree sputtering and allows the possibility to uniformly coat shaped articles, fibers and wires. We have studied the reactive deposition of Al@sub2@O@sub3@ using a hollow cathode sputtering process. A metal cylindrical target was used. Reactive sputtering process in a cylindrical magnetron is complicated due to redeposition of the sputtered flux. The control of the process is easier as it is relatively facile to pump to eliminate the unused reactive gas from a cylindrical magnetron than it is in the planar magnetron. We have characterized the reactive sputtering behavior of the Al metal target in Ar + O@sub2@ plasma. A hysterisis loop, typical of reactive sputtering, was obtained. The deposition rate, even in the poison mode, was high. This was perhaps due to the high pumping speed. The deposited film was also characterized by x-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The x-ray analyses revealed essentially pure metal films for low oxygen partial pressures. The pure metal to pure oxide transition, as the oxygen partial pressure in the sputtering gas was raised, was very slow. The transition region contained mixed valance aluminum. We will also present results on the optical and electrical characterization of the films.