Growth and structural properties of silicon on Ag films prepared by 40.68 MHz very-high-frequency magnetron sputtering

Abstract

The growth of silicon on Ag films via 40.68 MHz very-high-frequency (VHF) magnetron sputtering was investigated. The energy distribution and flux density of the ions on the substrate were also measured. The results showed that 40.68 MHz magnetron sputtering can produce ions with higher energy and lower flux density. The impact of these ions onto the grown surface promotes the growth of silicon, which is related to the crystalline nature and microstructure of the underlayer of the Ag films, and there is large particle growth of silicon on Ag films with a preferred orientation of (111), and two-dimensional growth of silicon on Ag films with a better face-centered cubic structure.

Effect of gas pressure on ion energy at substrate side of Ag target radio-frequency and very-high-frequency magnetron sputtering discharge

“…Many investigations on the ion energy at the substrate side have been carried out, but these works focused on the common 13.56 MHz RF magnetron sputtering discharge. For high-frequency magnetron sputtering [17][18][19][20][21], however, the effect of working pressure on the ion energy at the substrate side is lacking. Therefore, in this work, the ion energy at the substrate side of Ag target magnetron sputtering driven by 13.56 MHz, 27.12 MHz and 60 MHz in the pressure range of 1.0-10.0 Pa was investigated.…”

Ion property and electrical characteristics of 60 MHz very-high-frequency magnetron discharge at low pressure

“…Thus, the low-temperature deposition of polycrystalline and nanocrystalline films can be achieved by VHF sputtering, for example the low-temperature growth of polycrystalline silicon films by 182.5 and 60 MHz VHF sputtering [13,14], and the deposition of crystalline γ-Al 2 O 3 film by 71 MHz/13.56 MHz dual-frequency sputtering [15]. However, the ion flux density to the substrate is found very low [10][11][12], leading to a lower growth rate of films [14,16,17], limiting the wide application of VHF magnetron sputtering. This problem is also encountered in the HiPIMS [7].…”