DC Reactive Magnetron Sputtering with Ion Beam Assistance for Oxide Films

초록

Titanium oxide films were deposited by a reactive DC magnetron sputtering of a conventional cylindrical target with oxygen ion beam assistance from a RF ion source at low pressure and long substrate-target distance. In a conventional reactive DC magnetron sputtering, an oxygen gas reacts with a target surface and often forms an insulting oxide layer on the target surface during a reactive sputtering, which may result in arcing on the target surface and poisoning of it. In the present work, a RF ion source for an oxygen ion beam was installed to bombard an oxide film growing in a DC magnetron sputtering chamber and the substrate-to-target distance was increased. A reactive oxygen gas was introduced to an ion source and near a substrate while an Ar gas was flown above the sputtering target. Thus the target is not exposed directly to the oxygen gas and ion beam. A systematic study was made to examine the optical and structural properties of titanium oxide thin films prepared by an ion-beam-assisted DC sputtering using an in-situ ellipsometer, XRD, XPS and AFM. An investigation on the effect of ion beam parameters and sputtering conditions on oxide films will be reported.