MAGNETRON SPUTTERING AND ION BEAM SPUTTERING

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Pushpendra kumar 2009ph10737

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ION BEAM SPUTTERING

its a method of depositing very smooth thin films on a substrate. In this technique Spatially restricted ion beam is used having a small cross section. of ions---- ions are extracted from gas discharge plasma is isolated from the source of ion beams.
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Source

Target

Its a two step process

1) Generation of the ions

A Inert gas is filled in the Vacuum chamber having two electrodes. high potential is applied between them and this ionise the gas atoms. ions are then taken out from the 4/28/12

These

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2)

Ions are then accelerated by the electric field emanating from a grid toward a target. Energy and flux of ions can be controlled independently. ions particles fall on the target material.

These

As

the ion beam approaches the target, 2 processes takes place, electronic excitation and ejection of target atoms.
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The bombarding primary ion beam produces monatomic and polyatomic particles of sample material and resputtered primary ions, along with electrons and photons. The secondary particles carry negative, positive, and neutral charges and they have kinetic energies that range from zero to several hundred eV. 4/28/12

Ejection of target atoms

During

the motion of ions they transfers in collisions the energy and momentum it has got from the ion to adjacent atoms. They, in turn, transfer the energy and momentum they have got to next atoms and so on. forces between surface atoms are usually weaker than between bulk atoms so surface atoms have much greater chance to escape. atoms on the surface undergo series of secondary collisions they get enough energy to overcome the forces of interatomic coupling, they leave the surface and, having residual momentum
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coupling

The

A -zone where target atoms are displaced from their positions in structure, B - zone where target atoms had been excited but then relaxed to their equilibrium states, and C - surface zone where target atoms may be sputtered from.

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The target atoms after ejecting from the target moves to substrate and layer by layer atom depostion takes place in the vaccum chamber
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Magnetron sputtering

Similar to ion beam sputtering except that target and substrate are present in the same chamber. beam is not spatially focused, collisons takes place in plsama which randomize ion motion.

Ion

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Design parameters
It is mainly of three type: 1) Planer megnetron:
Parallel

target and anode electrode surfaces are present. Vacuum of less than one ten millionth of an atmosphere must be achieved before it is filled by a inert gas and a high potential is applied to the electrodes.
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Magnets are placed on back side of the cathode(target) Magnetic field lines emerging from the north pole are normal to the electric field and as they enters the chamber they have a component parallel to the surface. At that point Electric field and Magnetic fields are normal to each other.
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As the cathode is negatively charged , This attracts argon ions to the target surface at speed. When they collide with the surface two important processes take place: Atoms are knocked out of the target surface and electron are emitted. launched slightly off the target normal will initially spiral along the B field lines emanating normal to the target. In the region where E and B fields are perpendicular to one another, electrons are forced to drift in a cycloidal hopping motion. the electrons are trapped near to the cathode around the magnet known as the tunnel track.
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Electrons

So

When a secondary electron of sufficient energy collides with a neutral atom it can knock another electron out of the atom resulting in the creation of a positive ion, ionization. This ion is attracted towards the target surface and the whole sputtering process is repeated.
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 So

in this way the ionisation process is enhanced .

Large

density of ions near cathode produces large deposition rates. trapping provides less free electrons to bombard the substrate resulting in the ability to coat temperature sensitive substrates.

electron

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2) Cylindrical-Post Magnetron
consists

of electrodes arranged in a cylindrical geometry. target is in shape of a cylinder, surrounded in a 2 pi geometry by anode substrates so that a radial electric field is established between these electrodes. uniform magnetic field is applied parallel to the axis direction by means of permanent or electromagnets.
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The

cathode

anode

Electron motion

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3)Sputter Gun
Uses

a toroidal-conical (triangular or trapezoidal cross section) target. With magnets bonded to the backside. spreading B field normaly intersect the E field. a plasma discharge is created and confined over the target surface.

Outward So

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Unbalanced Magnetron
For

making the caotings hard and dense ion bombardment is required on the substrate which can be increased only by reducing the size of chamber or increasing power. to overcome this problem stronger magnets are attached on the outside resulting in the expansion of the plasma away from the surface of the target towards the substrate to be coated considerably increasing the substrate ion bombardment.
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So

Advantages of megnetron over ion beam sputtering

One

to two orders of magnitude more current is typically drawn in magnetron than simple DC discharges for the same applied voltage. higher deposition rates are present and low voltage is required for same deposition rates. important advantage is reduced operating pressures, Therefore, for the same electrode spacing and minimum target voltage a stable discharge can be maintained at lower pressures.
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So

Another

Disadvantages
In

planar magnetron sputtering, material is taken out mostly in the racetrack region where the plasma is most intense. area decreases so efficiency is low.

Surface

Elastic distortion of the target may result in loss of contact to the water-cooled backing plate and a corresponding drop in cooling efficiency.
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