Sputter coating is the core thin film deposition process in the semiconductor, disk drive, CD and optics industries today.

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When a suitable gas (usually argon) and a target material (usually metals) are used to form a glow discharge between the cathode and the anode, the sputtering target is bombarded to cause the atoms to be ejected from the target material——the process is referred to as “sputtering”; the atoms of the sputtering target will be deposited on a substrate, such as a silicon wafer, solar panel or optical device, and this process is known as sputter deposition.

Sputter deposition, as a relatively common physical vapor deposition (PVD) method, has its advantages, such as a wide range of deposition materials and high coating quality.

The table below details the advantages and disadvantages of sputter coating. It is provided by Stanford Advanced Materials and is for informational purposes only.

Advantages Disadvantages (1) Able to deposit a wide variety of metals, insulators, alloys and composites.

(2) Replication of target composition in the deposited films.

(3) Capable of in-situ cleaning prior to film deposition by reversing the potential on the electrodes .

(4) Better film quality and step coverage than evaporation.

(5) This is partly because adatoms are more  energetic, and film is ‘densified’ by in-situ ion bombardment, and it is easier to heat up to high T than evaporation that is in vacuum.

(6) More reproducible deposition control – same deposition rate for same process parameters (not true for evaporation), so easy film thickness control via time.

(7) Can use large area targets for uniform thickness over large substrates.

(8) Sufficient target material for many depositions.

(9) No x-ray damage.

(1) Substrate damage due to ion bombardment or UV generated by plasma.

(2) Higher pressures 1 –100 mtorr ( < 10-5 torr in evaporation), more contaminations unless using ultra clean gasses and ultra clean targets.

(3) Deposition rate of some materials quite low.

(4) Some materials (e.g., organics) degrade due to ionic bombardment.

(5) Most of the energy incident on the target becomes heat, which must be removed.

For more information, please visit https://www.sputtertargets.net/sputtering-target-materials.html.

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SAM Sputter Targets

Stanford Advanced Materials (SAM) Corporation is a global supplier of various sputtering targets such as metals, alloys, oxides, ceramic materials. View all posts by SAM Sputter Targets

Advantages and Disadvantages of Magnetron Sputtering Technology

views, Updated: 2022-09-29

The working principle of magnetron sputtering is that electrons collide with argon atoms in the process of flying to the substrate under the action of electric field E, resulting in AR-positive ions and new electrons.

New electrons fly to the substrate, and Ar ions accelerate to the cathode target under the electric field's action and bombard the target surface with high energy, resulting in sputtering of the target.

 

For more information, please visit Acetron.

Since the appearance of magnetron sputtering, it has obtained rapid development and wide application, which has greatly impacted other coating methods. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of magnetron sputtering technology?

 

Advantages of magnetron sputtering technology:

1. The deposition speed is fast, the substrate temperature rise is low, and the damage to the film is small.

2. For most materials, sputtering can be realized as long as scrape materials can be made.

3. The films obtained by sputtering are well combined with the substrate.

4. The films obtained by sputtering have high purity, good compactness, and good film-forming uniformity.

5. The sputtering process has good repeatability, and the film with a uniform thickness can be obtained on a large area substrate.

6. At the same time, the film's particle size can be controlled by changing the parameters.

7. Different metals, alloys, and oxides can be mixed and sputtered on the substrate simultaneously.

8. Easy to industrialize.

 

Disadvantages of magnetron sputtering technology:

1. The ring magnetic field used by magnetron sputtering forces the secondary electrons to move around the ring magnetic field. Accordingly, the region controlled by the annular magnetic field is the place with the highest plasma density.

We can see that the sputtering gas argon emits a strong light blue glow in this area during magnetron sputtering, forming a halo. The halo's target is the most serious part bombarded by ions, which will splash out a ring-shaped groove. The circular magnetic field is the orbit of electron motion, vividly represented by the circular flow and groove.

Once the sputtering groove of the magnetron sputtering target penetrates the target, the whole target will be scrapped, so the target's utilization rate is not high, generally lower than 40%.
 

2. Plasma instability.
 

3. It is impossible to achieve high-speed sputtering at low temperature for strong magnetic materials because almost all magnetic flux can not pass through the magnetic target, so it is impossible to add an external strengthening magnetic field near the target surface.

 

AEM Deposition, as a professional sputtering target manufacturer, supplies all kinds of pure metal sputtering target, alloy sputtering target, and ceramic compound sputtering target. Further details are as follows:

If you are interested, you can click the relevant link and visit the product page. You can also email us at

If you are interested, you can click the relevant link and visit the product page. You can also email us at

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