AVS 47th International Symposium
    Thin Films Friday Sessions
       Session TF+NS-FrM

Paper TF+NS-FrM11
Sputtered Fabrication of Periodic Sub-Micron Structures

Friday, October 6, 2000, 11:40 am, Room 203

Session: Nanostructured Thin Films
Presenter: B. Dick, University of Alberta, Canada
Authors: B. Dick, University of Alberta, Canada
M.J. Brett, University of Alberta, Canada
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It is known that Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) utilizing extreme self-shadowing during film growth can produce periodic microstructures on a pre-defined seed layer with electron beam evaporation.@footnote 1@ This deposition process has been applied to the fabrication of periodic magnetic pillars and has proposed application in optical devices. However, because individual seed elements enforce adatom shadowing on the substrate surface, higher operating pressures, resulting in larger angular flux distributions, can be tolerated in the formation of GLAD microstructures when deposited on a seed lattice. In this presentation, we report the use of low-pressure sputter deposition to fabricate periodic GLAD microstructures of between 500nm and 1.5µm thickness on substrates patterned with a 500nm period seed layer. We have characterized the growth of the microstructures in terms of the target area, deposition pressure, throw-distance, and flux incidence angle. The use of sputtering for periodic GLAD simplifies the process control, and should enable deposition of a broader range of materials for diverse applications including magnetics, optics, and sensors. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@B. Dick, M.J. Brett, T.J. Smy, M.R. Freeman, M. Malac, R.F. Egerton. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A. 18(4), 2000.