Populations of metastable and resonant argon atoms in radio frequency magnetron plasmas used for deposition of indium-zinc-oxide films

Journal Article · Thu Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, International Journal Devoted to Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.3674162· OSTI ID:22051367

Maaloul, L; Morel, S; Stafford, L ^[1]

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1. Departement de Physique, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7 (Canada)

This work reports optical absorption spectroscopy measurements of the number density of Ar atoms in resonant ({sup 3}P{sub 1}, {sup 1}P{sub 1}) and metastable ({sup 3}P{sub 2}, {sup 3}P{sub 0}) states in rf magnetron sputtering plasmas used for the deposition of ZnO-based thin films. While the density of Ar {sup 3}P{sub 2} and {sup 3}P{sub 0} was fairly independent of pressure in the range of experimental conditions investigated, the density of Ar {sup 3}P{sub 1} and {sup 1}P{sub 1} first sharply increased with pressure and then reached a plateau at values close to those of the {sup 3}P{sub 2} and {sup 3}P{sub 0} levels at pressures above about 50 mTorr. At such pressures, ultraviolet radiation from resonant states becomes trapped such that these levels behave as metastable states. For a self-bias voltage of -115 V and pressures in the 5-100 mTorr range, similar number densities of Ar resonant and metastable atoms were obtained for Zn, ZnO, and In{sub 2}O{sub 3} targets, suggesting that, over the range of experimental conditions investigated, collisions between these excited species and sputtered Zn, In, and O atoms played only a minor role on the discharge kinetics. The metastable-to-ground state number density ratios were also fitted to the predictions of a global model using the average electron temperature, T{sub e}, as the only adjustable parameter. For all targets examined, the values of T{sub e} deduced from this method were in excellent agreement with those obtained from Langmuir probe measurements.

• OSTI ID: 22051367
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, International Journal Devoted to Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 30, Issue 2; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Vacuum Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1553-1813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY
ARGON
COLLISIONS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
GROUND STATES
INDIUM OXIDES
LANGMUIR PROBE
MAGNETRONS
METASTABLE STATES
PLASMA
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
REACTION KINETICS
SPUTTERING
THIN FILMS
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
VISIBLE SPECTRA
ZINC
ZINC OXIDES