H. Badorreck
M. Jupé
D. Ristau
A. Pflug
T. Melzig
M. Vergöhl
A. Daniel
C. Archambeau
P. Moskovkin
R. Tonneau
S. Lucas

Sputter process diagnostics using virtual coating machines

Magnetron Ion Processing & Arc Technologies European Conference (MIATEC)
26.-30. Juni
Nizza
2017
Type: Konferenzbeitrag
Abstract
In an international collaboration, two Belgian and two German groups developed a multiple scale model of the deposition process and film growth in PVD coating processes. This “virtual coater” concept combines the process dynamics with atomistic thin film growth and subsequent band structure simulations. Different software packages implement the respective physical mechanisms and are optimized within the respective time and length scales. The virtual coater is applied on three different magnetron sputter coaters. Additionally an ion beam sputtering (IBS) process is investigated. The studies are based on TiO2 as reference material. As magnetron sputter processes, three different concepts based on circular planar targets, rectangular planar targets, and cylindrical rotatable targets are compared. Applied numerical algorithms are the “Direct Simulation Monte Carlo” (DSMC) method for rarefied gas flow and transport dynamics as well as the kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) and classical Molecular Dynamics (MD) methods for computing atomistic film growth. The coupling between process and film growth dynamics is realized by transferring computed particle fluxes, as well as energy and angular distribution functions. The calculated properties are linked to the experimental data. Via 3D substrate geometries, the impact of the deposition angle and total pressure on the film structure is hereby revealed on theoretical and experimental level. A promising agreement between experimental film analytics and modelled film structure is achieved, and the virtual coater will be further developed towards more coating materials and a wider range of coater setups.