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Deposition mode of magnetron sputtering vacuum coater

2021-12-11

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In the vacuum of magnetron sputtering vacuum coater cavity, high-energy particles bombard the surface of the material, so that its atoms get enough energy to escape from the surface and reach the substrate and condense into a film. Compared with real hair coating, sputtering coating is suitable for all (including high melting point) materials, and has the advantages of strong adhesion, controllable composition and easy mass production.


1. magnetron sputtering vacuum coating machine diode sputtering

A DC high voltage is applied between the target and the substrate, the gas (generally Ar2) between the plates is ionized, and high-speed charged ions bombard the surface of the target. To maintain self-sustaining discharge, the discharge pressure is generally as high as 10 Pa at the normal sputtering distance of several centimeters between two plates, which is unfavorable to sputtering efficiency and film quality. Therefore, DC sputtering mostly adopts non-self-sustaining discharge, that is, quadrupole sputtering with thermionic emitter and auxiliary anode, which can make sputtering at low pressure of 10-1 ~ 10-2 Pa. 

Advantages: simple structure.

Disadvantages: Only metal materials with good conductivity can be sputtered, and the sputtering efficiency is low.

2. RF sputtering by magnetron sputtering vacuum coating machine

RF power supply is used instead of DC power supply to apply high frequency voltage between target and substrate. When sputtering, the target will generate self-bias effect (that is, the target will automatically be in negative potential state), so that sputtering of insulating target can be maintained. The commonly used frequency is about 13.56 MHz. 

Advantages: It can sputter all materials, including conductors and insulators, with high sputtering efficiency and large-scale production.

Disadvantages: The RF power supply has some radiation problems.

3. Magnetron sputtering vacuum coating machine Magnetron sputtering

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, which ionizes them to produce Ar positive ions and new electrons; The new electrons fly to the substrate, and Ar ions accelerate to the cathode target under the action of electric field, and bombard the target surface with high energy, causing the target to sputter. In sputtered particles, neutral target atoms or molecules are deposited on the substrate to form a thin film, and the generated secondary electrons will be subjected to the action of electric field and magnetic field, resulting in the direction drift indicated by e (electric field )× b (magnetic field), which is referred to as E×B drift for short, and its trajectory is similar to a cycloid. If it is an annular magnetic field, the electrons move around the target surface in the form of approximate cycloid, and their movement path is not only very long, but also bound in the plasma region near the target surface, and a large amount of Ar is ionized in this region to bombard the target, thus achieving a high deposition rate. With the increase of the number of collisions, the energy of secondary electrons is exhausted, gradually away from the target surface, and finally deposited on the substrate under the action of electric field E. Because the energy of this electron is very low, the energy transferred to the substrate is very small, resulting in a low temperature rise of the substrate. Magnetron sputtering is a collision process between incident particles and targets. Incident particles undergo a complex scattering process in the target, and collide with the target atom, transferring part of momentum to the target atom, which collides with other target atoms to form a cascade process. In this cascade process, the target atoms near some surfaces gain enough momentum to move outward, and are sputtered off the target.

Advantages: high film forming rate, low substrate temperature, good film adhesion, and large-area coating.

Disadvantages: The consumption of target material is uneven, and the target material of magnetic material cannot be used.

4. Reactive sputtering by magnetron sputtering vacuum coating machine

With the development of modern surface engineering, more and more compound films are needed, and reactive magnetron sputtering is one of the main ways to deposit compound films. To deposit multi-component compound films, target materials made of compound materials can be used for sputtering deposition, or when sputtering pure metal or alloy targets, certain reactive gases, such as oxygen and nitrogen, can be introduced to react and deposit compound films, which is called reactive sputtering. Generally, pure metal targets and reactive gases are easy to obtain high purity, so reactive sputtering is widely used to deposit compound films.

 Advantages: (1) The target materials (single-element targets or multi-element targets) and reaction gases (oxygen, nitrogen, hydrocarbons, etc.) used in reactive magnetron sputtering have high purity, which is conducive to the preparation of high-purity compound films.

(2) Chemical or non-chemical compound films can be prepared by adjusting the process parameters in reactive magnetron sputtering, and the film characteristics can be controlled by adjusting the composition of the films.

(3) The temperature rise of the substrate in the process of reactive magnetron sputtering deposition is small, and the substrate is usually not required to be heated at a high temperature in the process of film making, so there is less restriction on the substrate materials.

(4) Reactive magnetron sputtering is suitable for preparing large-area uniform thin films, and can realize the industrial production of single machine with annual output of one million square meters of coating.

Disadvantages: target poisoning, anode disappearance and other problems are easy to occur.
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