Suppression of deposition rate variations and of structural changes in the characteristics of magnetic films deposited by magnetically controlled magnetron sputtering

Abstract

This article describes the effect of the target magnetic field on the plasma process and the physical properties of films deposited by magnetically controlled rf and dc planar magnetron sputtering techniques. The target magnetic field, which is parallel to the target surface, is controlled and its’ strength is a key parameter in controlling the deposition rate in both rf and dc magnetron sputtering. Based on this technique, we propose a way of suppressing variations in a magnetic film’s deposition rate and suppressing changes in its structural characteristics during rf magnetron sputtering. For dc magnetron sputtering, we clarified the mechanism that automatically stabilizes the deposition rate even if the target magnetic field is changed. We also clarified that controlling the target magnetic field (controlling the self-bias voltage) is very important for controlling the physical properties of sputter-deposited films in both rf and dc magnetron sputtering.