Cleaning and sputtering using planar acoustoplasma magnetron

Abstract

The paper describes the obtained experimental results for a planar acoustoplasma magnetron. The small radius of the anode loopallows focusing and accelerating the ionic component of the sprayed material.Argon was used as a buffer gas. The characteristics of the magnetron in case of direct current supply and in acoustoplasma mode(AP) (with modulated current containing constant and variable components) are compared. The sputtering speed in AP modeincreases. For the copper cathode, the gas pressure made < 1 Pa and current density of the order of 100 mA/cm2with increasingdistance from the anode to the deposited substrate from 2 to 4 cm in case of DC supply, the deposition speed drops 3.3 times (from17 to 5 nm/s), in the acoustoplasma mode – 2 times (from 13 to 6.4 nm/s).For the anode-substrate distance 4 cm, the gain in the deposition speed in the AP mode, compared with DC is 1.2–1.5 times. Thedependences of ion and electron currents on the substrate for different discharge parameters were measured. The study was basedon a scheme with two potential grids with fixed and variable potentials. The possibility of forming an annular vapor-plasma flowof fast particles is shown.