Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
magnetron,
sputtering,
1. Introduction
Low pressure plasma discharges have several
technological applications. In a magnetron
sputtering process, it is widely used in the thin
film
deposition
of
elemental/compound
materials. The structures and properties of the
growing film are affected by the process
conditions, as well as the interactions, through
collisions, between energetic particles. These
particles include electrons, ions, neutrals, etc.
The interactions between these particles and
the process gas (such as argon) result in
momentum and energy exchange between the
colliding particles and the gas, and may result in
excitation, ionization and dissociation of the
process gas as well as other neutrals [1,2]. The
use of a magnetron plays an important role in
confining electrons around the vicinity of the
target (cathode), and in increasing the collision
probability of electrons with the process gas.
This in turn increases the creation rate of ions
within the plasma. As the target is biased
negatively with respect to the walls, the positive
ions are accelerated towards it.
The interactions also result in the heating of
the process gas and cause local rarefaction [3,4].
2. Model
The plasma may be described using
continuity equations (for the charge species) and
Poisson equation (for the electrical potential
determination). The electrons may be grouped as
slow electrons (created within the main
discharge region) and fast electrons (created at
the cathode or in the sheath). The equations in
general form may be expressed as:
(1)
Slow electrons ne + J e = Re
t
ni
Ions
(2)
+ J i = Ri
t
(3)
Potentials 2 = q (n n n fast )
0 i e e
Where ni , ne , nefast are respectively, the
densities of ions, slow and fast electrons, is the
electrical potential, q is the elementary
discharge, and 0 is the permittivity of free space.
Ji and Je are the fluxes of ions and slow electrons
which are determined by the electric field and
the mobilities of the charged particles. The
source terms Ri and Re are ion and slow electron
creation rates. Since some of the fast electrons
reaching the bulk plasma may be converted to
the slow electrons, the electron creation rate may
be different from the creation rate of the ions.
These creation rates may be calculated from a
Monte Carlo simulation of fast electrons [1,5].
The electrons and ions fluxes may be
expressed as:
(4)
J e = e ne E Dene
J i = i ni E Di ni
(5)
3. Numerical Method
The physical geometry consists of a
cylindrically
symmetric
magnetron
as
represented in a 2D sketch shown in figure 1.
The electrons are mainly confined in the trap
region above the target by magnetic field, where
ions are created. These ions are accelerated
towards the target, by an applied electric field,
where they impinge normally. Secondary
electrons are created in the process with an
emission coefficient, , such that at the cathode,
the electron current density may be expressed in
terms of the ion current density as:
je(0) = ji(0)
(13)
Equation (13) may be used as the boundary
condition for the ions.
Substrate (Anode)
E-field
B-field
Target (Cathode)
S
N
Soft Iron
y
x
5. Conclusions
In this study, we have modeled low pressure
plasma discharge typical for a dc magnetron
sputtering process using a hybrid Monte Carlo,
fluid-Poisson model. Gas heating effects are
included in the model. Densities of the plasma
species (electrons and ions) and electrical
potential of the discharge space are calculated
using the COMSOL Multiphysics modeling tool.
The trend of the results compare well with
experimental results reported elsewhere. The
effect of magnetic field on the profile of the
charge densities and fluxes, and electrical
potential are clearly illustrated in the results
obtained. The results of this model illustrate the
usefulness of adopting COMSOL tool in
modeling a plasma discharge. More work is
however required in redefining some of the
model assumptions / parameters, such as using a
more physically reasonable assumption for the
electrical conductivity of the process gas.
6. References
1. Sheridan, T.E., Goeckner, M.J. and Goree, J.,
Model of Energetic Transport in Magnetron
Discharges, J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A 8, 30-37
(1990)
2. Golant, V.E., Zhilinsky, A.P., and Sakharov,
I.E. Fundamentals of plasma Physics, John
Wiley & Sons, New York (1980)
3. Rossnagel, S.M., Gas Density Reduction
Effects in Magnetrons, J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A
6, 19-24 (1988)
4. Ekpe, S.D. and Dew, S.K., 3D Numerical
simulation of Gas Heating Effects in a
Magnetron Sputter Deposition System, J. Phys.
D, A 39, 1413-1421 (2006)
5. Field, D.J., Study of Electrons in Magnetron
Sputtering System for Novel Thin Film
Applications, PhD Thesis, University of Alberta,
Canada (2005)
6. Jimenez, F., Ekpe, S.D., and Dew, S.K.,
Inhomogeneous Rarefaction of the Process Gas
in a DC Magnetron sputtering System, J. Vac.
Sci. Technol., A 24, 1530-1534 (2006)
7. Bogaerts, A., Gijbels, R. and Goedheer, W. J.
Hybrid Monte Carlo-fluid Model of A Direct
Glow Discharge, J. Appl. Phys., 78, 22332241(1995)
8. Surendra, M, Graves, D.B., and Plano, L.S.,
Self-consistent DC Glow-discharge Simulations
Applied to Diamond Film Deposition Reactors,
J. Appl. Phys. 71, 5189-5198(1992)
9. Pekker, L., Longitudinal Distribution of
Plasma Density in the Low-pressure glow
Discharge with Transverse Magnetic Field,
Plasma Sources Sci. Technol., 4, 31-35 (1995)
9. Field, D.J., Dew, S.K. and Burrell, R.E.,
Spatial Survey of a Magnetron Plasma
Sputtering System Using a Langmuir Probe, J.
Vac. Sci. Technol., A 20, 2032-2041 (2002)