Anode Design for Sputtering Film Deposition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing film deposition techniques, such as sputtering, face challenges in achieving high-quality piezoelectric films like PZT at faster deposition rates due to issues like Pb loss and back sputtering, which affect the crystallinity and quality of the deposited layers.
Innovation Solution
A film deposition apparatus with an anode design that surrounds the substrate holder's outer periphery, featuring annular plate members with central openings larger than the substrate, captures ions and electrons, reducing back sputtering and optimizing plasma conditions to enhance deposition rate and quality without altering plasma potential.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If high-temperature deposition conditions are used to improve deposition rate, then deposition speed increases, but Pb loss increases and film quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
A shield structure is introduced as an intermediary component between the target holder and the deposition base. The shield captures plasma ions and electrons before they reach the target holder, mediating the plasma-surface interaction. This allows deposition to proceed at higher rates without the harmful direct ion bombardment that causes Pb loss, effectively decoupling deposition rate from material loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The shield structure changes the plasma potential distribution and ion flux parameters in the deposition chamber. By adjusting the plasma conditions through the shield's presence, the system achieves a new operational state where higher deposition rates can be maintained without the adverse effects of ion bombardment, thus changing the process parameters to resolve the contradiction.
2Productivity
If high-temperature deposition conditions are used to improve deposition rate, then deposition speed increases, but film quality and crystallinity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The shield acts as a mediator that filters and modulates the plasma flux reaching the target holder. By controlling which plasma species and at what energy levels interact with the target, the shield enables faster deposition while maintaining the film quality and crystallinity that would otherwise be compromised by uncontrolled ion bombardment.
3Manufacturing precision
If plasma conditions are optimized to improve film quality, then film quality increases, but deposition rate decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The shield structure serves as a plasma conditioning intermediary that allows the system to achieve both goals simultaneously. It modifies the plasma environment to be more favorable for quality film formation while maintaining sufficient flux for high deposition rates, breaking the traditional trade-off between quality and productivity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach results in higher deposition rates and improved film quality, with reduced Pb loss and pyrochlore phase content, enabling the production of dense, high-quality piezoelectric films suitable for applications like ink-jet heads.
Implementation Method 1
a power supply for supplying electric power between the target holder and the substrate holder to generate plasma in the process chamber
Implementation Method 2
an anode provided between the target holder and the substrate holder so as to surround an outer periphery of a side of the substrate holder that faces the target holder for capturing ions and/or electrons in the plasma being generated within the process chamber
Implementation Method 3
In sputtering, plasma ions, such as Ar ions, of high energy that are generated by plasma discharge in high vacuum are allowed to strike a target so that the constituent elements of the target are released and evaporated on a surface of a substrate
Data Source
AI summary
A film depositing apparatus comprises: a process chamber; a target holder provided in the process chamber for holding a target; a substrate holder for supporting a deposition substrate such that the deposition substrate faces the target holder in the process chamber; a power supply for supplying electric power between the target holder and the substrate holder to generate plasma in the process chamber; and an anode provided between the target holder and the substrate holder for capturing ions and/or electrons in the plasma being generated within the process chamber, wherein the anode includes: a cylindrical member provided so as to surround an outer periphery of a side of the substrate holder that faces the target holder; and at least one annular plate member attached to an inside wall of the cylindrical member, the plate member having a central opening larger than a surface of the deposition substrate.