Detailed SVC Course Syllabus

C-203 Sputter Deposition  (2-day course)

 1. Introduction and review

         a. gas kinetics: mean free path (mfp)

         b. gas adsorption, desorption, and film contamination

         c. surface energy: effect on film agglomeration

         d. surface structure

         e. film growth kinetics: pathways and limits, Ehrlich barrier

2. Nucleation and the early stages of film growth

         a.  thermodynamics (a simple stability problem): examples

         b. film growth modes

         c. nucleation kinetics: examples

         d. film growth models: examples

3. 3D (polycrystalline) film growth and microstructure evolution

         a.  3D nucleation and island growth: examples

         b. growth mechanisms (adatom diffusion, coalescence, coarsening): examples

         c. microstructure evolution (structure-zone models): examples

         d. densification and grain growth

4. Mechanisms of sputtering

         a. sputter deposition: definition, advantages/disadvantages

         b. ion/surface interactions: elastic and inelastic

         c. ion trajectories and sputtering mechanisms: examples

         d.  sputtering yields: examples

         e.  energy distributions of sputtered atoms and backscattered ions: examples

         f.  angular dependencies of incident ions and sputtered atoms: examples

         g. nature of sputtered species from elemental and alloy targets

5. Glow discharges

         a.  glow discharge characteristics

         b. cathode fall distance (sheath width): examples

         c.  mfp for charge exchange collisions and incident ion energies: examples

         d. secondary electron emission mechanisms and yields: examples

         e. optical emission: examples

6. dc sputtering

         a. typical operating conditions and system design: examples

         b. characteristics (sheath width, I vs V, deposition rates, etc): examples

         c. process control: examples

7. rf sputtering

         a. mechanism of operation: examples

  b. intrinsic substrate bias: examples

         c. system design and equivalent circuits: examples

         d. typical operating conditions: examples

 8. Magnetron sputtering

         a. typical operating conditions and common target configurations: examples

         b. operational mechanisms and characteristics: examples

         c. system design (diode, cluster tools, in-line, etc) and applications: examples

         d. problem areas (target utilization, magnetic targets, etc): examples

         e. newer designs (rotating cylindrical, unbalanced, closed-field, ionized metal, high pulse density): examples

9. Ion-beam sputtering

         a. operation mechanisms and characteristics of common sources (cold cathode, rf, microwave/ECR, gridless, single grid): examples

         b.  design and operation of "hot cathode" Kaufman sources: examples

         c. linear ion source

10.  Reactive sputter deposition

         a. reactive sputtering definition, applications, and problems: examples

         b. origins and mechanisms of observed effects

         c. process control strategies (flow, partial pressure, target voltage): examples

         d. hysteresis effects: examples

         e. negative ions and  mediation strategies: examples

         f.  modeling

11. Pulsed dc/mid-frequency ac sputtering

         a.  the issues: reactive sputtering of insulators, arcs (examples)

         b.  advantages/disadvantages of pulsed-dc/mid-frequency ac vs rf: examples

         c.  pulsed modes (asymmetric dc, mid-frequency ac, symmetric dc) and their operation: examples

         d.  advantages/disadvantages of the three pulsed modes: examples

         e. redundant anodes and dual magnetron operation: examples.

12.     Particle irradiation effects during film growth: heating, densification, stress, texture, and composition

         a.  substrate heating, origins and solutions: examples

         b. film densification, mechanisms and strategies: examples

         c.  stress evolution, origin and control: examples

         d.  development of film texture: examples

         e.  nanotechnology: examples

         f.   real-time control of film composition: examples

 

Instructor: Joseph E. Greene, D.B. Willett Professor of Materials Science and Physics, University of Illinois-Urbana