Review of plasma-assisted deposition processes

Abstract

Thin film deposition processes are now making increasing use of “plasma” during the film growth. The plasma provides an in situ source of increased ionization and energetic deposition species. This can be suitably used to enhance various physical and chemical processes that may influence the growth and properties of deposited films. In early reviews of such processes the term “glow discharge deposition” was used. In subsequent reviews the process was referred to as “plasma deposition”. However, in order to include a variety of plasma deposition process such as evaporation, sputtering and chemical vapor deposition, a more generalized term describing such processes has been adopted in the last decade or so. The thin film deposition processes that make use of plasma in the space between the source and substrate are described as “plasma-assisted or plasma-enhanced deposition processes”. In this review such processes using a variety of sources, e.g. resistance heated, electron-beam, cathodic arc, sputtering and gaseous, are described.