Unbalanced magnetron ion-assisted deposition and property modification of thin films
Unbalanced magnetron (UM-gun) sputtering sources with the unique characteristic of a high deposition rate and concomitant high ion flux represent an exciting new development in ion-assisted deposition of thin films. We have used a UM-gun capable of producing ion current densities up to 5 mA cm/sup -2/ (ion flux 3 x 10/sup 16/ cm/sup -2/ s/sup -1/) when operated at a power of 500 W to produce a variety of thin films of amorphous and crystalline materials by varying both the bombarding ion energy in the range 2--100 eV and the ion/atom arrival rate ratio in the range 0.4--10. The great flexibility and usefulness of UM-guns is demonstrated with examples which include (a) hard diamondlike a-C films prepared under very low ion energy (13--16 eV) bombardment which possess a metastable bonding configuration consisting of a mixture of tetrahedral and trigonal coordination that varies with ion energy, (b) hard and wear-resistant TiN films whose electrical and optical properties change dramatically with ion bombardment, and (c) Ni/Cr alloy films showing ion-induced structural modifications.
- Research Organization:
- CSIRO Division of Applied Physics, Sydney, Australia 2070
- OSTI ID:
- 5753369
- Journal Information:
- J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A; (United States), Vol. 4:3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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