Performance of a Gyratory Square-Shaped Capacitive Radio Frequency Discharge Plasma Sputtering Source for Materials Processing

We proposed a gyratory square-shaped capacitive radio-frequency discharge plasma sputtering source for materials processing and functional film preparation, composed of magnet arrangements consisting of eight neodymium bar magnets of dimensions 30 mm × 5 mm × 3 mm. In order to evaluate its performance, two square-shaped magnetic arrangements were investigated: case (a) without iron shielding and case (b) with iron shielding of dimensions 5 mm × 3 mm × 1 mm. The magnetic field simulation is analyzed, while the plasma discharge characteristics and the film properties are measured. The film thickness and the resistivity profiles of case (b) are more uniform than their corresponding profiles in case (a). The lowest electrical resistivity of the film is 4.33 × 10−8 Ω m at r = 30 mm for case (b), which is of the same order as the bulk resistivity of the copper. The roughnesses of the film thickness profile for cases (a) and (b) are ±24.4 and ±7.2%, respectively. Using atomic force microscopy analysis, the film surface for case (b) was observed to show an improved smooth surface with reduced needle-shaped grain size and a lower surface roughness than that of case (a). The surface roughness of the films is approximately 3.73 and 2.49 nm for case (a) and case (b), respectively. From the X-ray diffraction patterns, the film texture, the relative intensity ratios of the (111) peak to the (200) [I(111)/ I(200)] were found to be 13.76 and 4.08 for the cases (a) and (b), respectively.