Low-pressure magnetron sputtering

✍ Scribed by J Musil

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 471 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0042-207X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0042-207x(98)00068-2

✦ Synopsis

The paper gives a short survey of the present state of art in low-pressure sputtering and self-sputtering. It shows main advantages of low pressure sputtering, particularly new physical conditions, i.e. (i) collisionless sight-of-line deposition process ; (ii) assistance of fast neutrals in the film growth ; and (iii) formation of films from ionised coating material and in the absence of an inert sputtering gas in the case of self-sputtering, under which novel materials with new physical properties can be formed. Principles of low-pressure sputtering are outlined. It is shown that there are two basic ways how to realise the low-pressure sputtering : (i) an improvement of plasma confinement in the sputtering discharge ; and (ii) an additional ionisation of the working atmosphere. Also, sputtering systems used for low-pressure sputtering, including that recently developed, are discussed in detail. A special attention is devoted to the magnetron with a grooved target and the magnetron enhanced with rf and microwave magnetoactive plasma.