Influence and determinative factors of ion-to-atom arrival ratio in unbalanced magnetron sputtering systems

Low pressure sputtering with a controlled ratio of ion flux to deposited atom flux at the condensing surface is one of the main directions of development of magnetron sputtering methods. Unbalanced magnetron sputtering, by producing dense secondary plasma around the substrate, provides a high ion current density. The closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering system （CFUBMS） has been established as a versatile technique for high-rate deposition high-quality metal, alloy, and ceramic thin films. The＇key factor in the CFUBMS system is the ability to transport high ion currents to the substrate, which can enhance the formation of full dense coatings at relatively low value homologous temperature. The investigation shows that the energy of ions incidenced at the substrate and the ratio of the flux of these ions to the flux of condensing atoms are the fundamental parameters in determining the structure and properties of films produced by ion-assisted deposition processes. Increasing ion bombardment during deposition combined with increasing mobility of the condensing atoms favors the formation of a dense microstructure and a smooth surface.

Fabrication of Diamond-like Carbon Films by Ion Assisted Middle Frequency Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering

Diamond-like carbon （DLC） films are deposited by the Hall ion source assisted by the mid-frequency unbalanced magnetron sputtering technique. The effects of the substrate voltage bias, the substrate temperature, the Hall discharging current and the argon/nitrogen ratio on the DLC film＇s performance were studied. The experimental results show that the film＇s surface roughness, the hardness and the Young＇s modulus increase firstly and then decrease with the bias voltage incrementally increases. Also when the substrate temperature rises, the surface roughness of the film varies slightly, but its hardness and Young＇s modulus firstly increase followed by a sharp decrease when the temperature surpassing 120 ℃. With the Hall discharging current incrementally rising, the hardness and Young＇s modulus of the film decrease and the surface roughness of the film on 316L stainless steel firstly decreased and then remains constant.

Cu Films Deposited by Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering Enhanced by ICP and External Magnetic Field Confinement

Metallic copper（Cu） films were deposited on a Si （100） substrate by unbalanced magnetron sputtering enhanced by radio-frequency plasma and external magnetic field confinement. The morphology and structure of the films were examined by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, atomic force microscope （AFM） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. The surface average roughness of the deposited Cu films was characterized by AFM data and resistivity was measured by a four-point probe. The results show that the Cu films deposited with radio-frequency discharge enhanced ionization and external magnetic field confinement have a smooth surface, low surface roughness and low resistivity. The reasons may be that the radio-frequency discharge and external magnetic field enhance the plasma density, which further improves the ion bombardment effect under the same bias voltage conditions. Ion bombardment can obviously influence the growth features and characteristics of the deposited Cu films.

Structure and Tribology Property of Carbon Nitride Films Deposited by MW-ECR Plasma Enhanced Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering

Carbon nitride films were deposited by a twinned microwave electron cyclotron resonance （ECR） plasma source enhanced unbalanced magnetron sputtering system. The results indicate that the structure of the films is sensitive to the nitrogen content. The increase in the nitrogen flow ratio leads to an increase in the sp3 content and an improvement of the tribological properties.

Recent Developments in Magnetron Sputtering

The principle of magnetron sputtering is introduced andthe balanced and unbalanced magnetrons are compared andthe necessity of unbalanced magnetrons is explained as well. Several recent developments in plasma magnetron sputtering, i.e., unbalanced magnetron sputtering, pulsed magnetron sputtering and ion assisted sputtering, are discussed. The recent developments of unbalanced magnetron systems and their incorporation with ion sources result in an understanding in growingimportance of the magnetron sputtering technology, which makes the technology an applicable deposition process for a variety of important films, such as wear-resistant films and decorative films.

Recent Developments and Applications in Unbalanced Mangnetron Sputtering

Sputtering deposition is one of the most important processes in the vacuum coating, it is widely used in microeletronics industries, optical films, and metallurgical coatings industry et al. Sputtering deposition is, in the vacuum conditions, sputtered particles from the target material deposit on the substrate using energetic ions to bombard surface of target to form a film.

SYNTHESIS AND THERMAL STABILITY OF NANOCOMPOSITE nc-TiN/a-TiB_2 THIN FILMS

Several nc-TiN/a-TiB2 thin films comprised of nanocrystalline (nc-) TiN and amor phous (a-) TiB2 phases were deposited on Si(100) at room temperature by reactive unbalanced dc magnetron sputtering, followed by vacuum annealed at 400, 600, 80 0 and 1000℃ for 1h, respectively. Effects of B content on microstructure, mecha nical behaviors and thermal microstructure stability have been investigated by X -ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and nanoindentation measurements. The results indicated that B addition greatly affected both microstructure and mechanical behavior of nc-Ti N/a-TiB2 thin films. With increasing B content the grain size decreased. A maxim um hardness value of about 33GPa was obtained at B content of about 19at.%. The improved mechanical properties of nc-TiN/a-TiB2 films with the addition of B int o TiN were attributed to their densified microstructure with development of fine grain size. Only addition of sufficient B could restrain grain growth during an nealing. High B content resulted in high microstructure stability. The crystalli zation of amorphous matrix occurred at about 800℃, forming TiB or TiB2 crystall ite, depending on B content. Before that no change in bonding configuration was found.

Characteristics of Cu implantation into Si by PBII using UBMS cathode

The implantation of Cu into Si substrate was carried out by plasma based ion implantation (PBII) using unbalanced magnetron sputtering (UBMS) cathode as the metal plasma source. The different pulse bias ( U p) and the distance between the cathode and the samples ( d s-t ) were chosen to research the characteristics of this method. The results show that the implantation of metal ions can be realized by the metal plasma source of UBMS cathode. The physical process such as the metal ion pure implantation, the gas ion implantation, the recoil implantation of the metal atoms, the deposition of the metal particles and the re sputtering of the metal film depend on the energy, dose and deposition rate of the ions (Cu +, Ar +). The metal plasma based ion implantation of Cu into Si substrate is favored by selecting higher U p (60 kV) and larger d s-t (200 mm). [