AVS 51st International Symposium
    Manufacturing Science and Technology Tuesday Sessions
       Session MS-TuP

Paper MS-TuP4
Two Gas Reactive Sputtering of Oxynitride Compounds: Model and Practice

Tuesday, November 16, 2004, 4:00 pm, Room Exhibit Hall B

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: D.C. Carter, Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.
Authors: D.C. Carter, Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.
D.J. Christie, Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.
W.D. Sproul, Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.
Correspondent: Click to Email
Reactive sputtering process control has been the subject of much research in recent years. The result of this work has been the development of methods for improving the economy and utility of this popular deposition method. Adding to the understanding of reactive sputtering techniques are functional models developed to explain the dynamics of these often difficult to control processes. Most common, both in practical use and in laboratory research have been deposition processes involving a single reactive gas producing simple binary compounds. Only in the past few years have models been extended to consider the effects of a second reactive gas. Similarly, practical understanding from empirical studies involving two reactive gasses is quite limited. The general rule recognized from models and laboratory experience holds that for the deposition of most compounds effective control in the transition region between the metallic condition and the poisoned condition requires some form of active, partial pressure or similar control. Adding a second reactive gas to the process adds great complexity to the control challenge. Carlsson et al.@super 1@ demonstrated that a two reactive gas process can exhibit a behavior called "trapping" where the sputtering target becomes trapped in a poisoned state. Only through the removal of both reactive gases would the model allow the target to recover from the poisoned state. Based on this the partial pressure of both reactive gases must be controlled to prevent the trapping behavior. We apply such control to a two reactive gas sputtering process, first in deriving solutions to mathematical models and then in practice. Using active, multi-gas control we demonstrate stable two gas reactive sputtering for the oxynitride systems of Silicon, Titanium and Aluminum and within the stable operating space we show film composition control allowing user specified film properties and performance. @FootnoteText@ 1. J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A 11(4), (1993).