Thermal power at a substrate during ZnO:Al thin film deposition in a planar magnetron sputtering system

Abstract

In a balanced magnetron sputtering system the thermal power at a substrate has been determined from the temperature change of the substrate when the plasma is switched on. Using the temperature as a function of the potential of a probe, the calorimeter has been calibrated absolutely. A heat input equivalent of about 10 eV per electron has been determined for a dc discharge. The results for the total thermal power at the substrate are compared with values published by other groups for similar discharge systems. The contributions of different kinds of particles are discussed. For the dc discharge at a discharge power of 50 W and a pressure of 0.8 Pa, a thermal power of 15.6 mW cm−2 has been found which is mainly produced by particles other than the plasma ions. It can be concluded from the increase of the thermal power with decreasing pressure that bombardment by particles originating from the target is the main source of the substrate heating. In an rf discharge the ion energy is two times and the flux density is nearly three times higher than in a dc discharge. Here the dependence of the thermal power on pressure is only weak and mainly the plasma ions transport the power to the substrate.