S. Kadlec et al., ENERGY-DISTRIBUTION OF IONS IN AN UNBALANCED MAGNETRON PLASMA MEASURED WITH ENERGY-RESOLVED MASS-SPECTROMETRY, Surface & coatings technology, 89(1-2), 1997, pp. 177-184
The energy distribution of ions in the plasma during unbalanced magnet
ron sputtering was measured with an energy-resolved mass spectrometer.
Typical energy distributions of the main ion species were measured fo
r sputtering of a Cu target in an Ar atmosphere in the pressure range
from about 0.1 to 10 Pa. The effects of the discharge pressure and of
the distance between target and mass spectrometer on the ion energy di
stribution were studied. A low energy (thermalised) peak in the ion en
ergy distribution function was observed at an energy corresponding to
the plasma potential. In addition, a high energy tail was observed at
energies of about 3-30 eV above the low energy peak, not only for sput
tered ionised atoms but also for the Ar ions. The ion energy distribut
ion of this high energy tail can be fitted with an exponential functio
n; the mean energy was about 1-5 eV. The integrated intensity of the h
igh energy tail was a function of the pressure-distance product p x d,
where d is the distance of the mass spectrometer from the magnetron.
The function is close to exponential decrease with increasing p x d pr
oduct for the high energy tail of the Cu+ energy distribution. A simil
ar exponential decrease was observed also for the high energy tail of
the Ar+ energy distribution with the exception of lowest pressures (<0
.2 Pa) where the intensity of the Ar+ high energy tail increases with
increasing pressure. An explanation of these observations is proposed
based on energy transfer from sputtered atoms to Ar gas atoms during c
ollisions.