Magnetron sputtering developed rapidly in the 1980s for semiconductor, hard coating, and architectural glass applications. While the general operating principles were well known, subtle issues relating to cathode material, operating parameters, and deposition processes were only empirically understood. A sequence of magnetron measurements is described, which helps develop a more general understanding. The plasma is mostly conventional but is strongly perturbed by the large fluxes of energetic, neutral atoms sputtered from the cathode, which alter the gas dynamics as well as the discharge impedance. These studies have led to practical innovations, such as collimation and ionization of the sputtered atoms, which have been widely used for semiconductor manufacturing applications.
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December 2020
Review Article|
November 19 2020
Magnetron sputtering
Special Collection:
Celebrating 40 Years of the AVS Peter Mark Award
Stephen M. Rossnagel
Stephen M. Rossnagel
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Virginia
, Charlottesville, VA 22905
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Note: This paper is part of the 2020 Special Topic Collection Celebrating 40 Years of the AVS Peter Mark Award.
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 38, 060805 (2020)
Article history
Received:
August 31 2020
Accepted:
October 30 2020
Citation
Stephen M. Rossnagel; Magnetron sputtering. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 1 December 2020; 38 (6): 060805. https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0000594
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