Magnetron
Sputtering (PVD)
Sputtering is a PVD
method involving the removal of material from a solid cathode.
This is accomplished by bombarding the cathode with positive ions
emitted from a rare gas discharge. When ions with high kinetic energy are
incident on the cathode, the subsequent collisions sputter atoms from the
material. The process of transferring momentum from impacting ions to
surface atoms forms the basis of sputter coating. The film deposited by
this method is uniform in thickness and capable of covering areas usually
shadowed by other deposition methods.
The sputter deposition system consists
(in a general case )
of a vacuum chamber, sputter sources, a substrate holder and a pumping system.
The control panel selects the target source and substrate position
and controls the sputtering power. The vacuum system contains a mechanical
pump, a turbo pump, throttle valve, and chamber.
The separate RF power supply is remote.
It supplies the RF power needed to generate plasma in the deposition chamber.
