Simulation of reactive sputtering. Review

This paper takes a critical look at the evolution of reactive sputtering modeling over the past 50 years. The review summarizes the main regularities of the processes of film deposition of simple metal compounds (nitrides, oxides, oxynitrides, carbides, etc.) discovered experimentally by various researchers. The above features include significant non-linearity and hysteresis. In the 1970s, specific models of isothermal chemisorption were proposed. These models were based on the assumption that a compound film is formed on the target due to chemisorption. Their development led to the emergence of a general model of isothermal chemisorption, which was supplemented by processes on the surfaces of the vacuum chamber wall and the substrate. The model has undergone numerous transformations for application to a variety of reactive spray applications. At the next stage in the development of modeling a reactive sputtering (RSD) model was proposed based on the implantation of reactive gas molecules into the target, bulk chemical reaction, chemisorption, and the «knock-on» effect (implantation of adsorbed recoil atoms or molecules that received an impulse from an accelerated argon ion). Another direction in the development of modeling is represented by a non-isothermal physical and chemical model, in which the Langmuir isotherm and the law of mass action were used. Various modifications of this model made it possible to describe reactive sputtering processes in more complex cases, when a hot or sandwich target is included in the sputtered unit.

Authors: V. I. Shapovalov

Direction: Physics

Keywords: reactive sputtering, sandwich target, model, magnetron, chemisorption, implantation, chemical reaction, target

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