Film thickness variation in a cylindrical magnetron deposition device

Abstract

The 2D thickness distributions of Cu and Al planar thin films prepared by a home-made cylindrical magnetron with rectangular exit window were examined. The experimental results were compared with several models of sputtered particle transport. It has been shown that in the azimuthal direction the best agreement with experimental results was achieved with the free flight model. Due to an uneven target erosion, the agreement with the model calculations proved to be somewhat less satisfactory in the axial direction. An overall similarity of thickness distributions in the case of Al deposition at P Ar≈0.7 Pa and Cu deposition at P Ar≈2.25 Pa working gas pressure has been found. However, it has been found that the portion of backscattered flux was greater in the case of Al than it was for Cu sputtering.