THE DISAPPEARING ANODE MYTH - STRATEGIES AND SOLUTIONS FOR REACTIVE PVD FROM SINGLE MAGNETRONS

Since the advent of pulsed de reactive sputtering, the capacity to pro duce high-quality dielectric films at useful rates has been well prove n in industrial and research environments. A number of elegant solutio ns to the control of the mass balances of the reactive plasma have bee n developed and proven. Plasma emission monitors, partial pressure con trol, and others have extended the useable envelope of pulsed de techn ology. One area of concern for many working with dielectric films is a node degradation of the plasma tool as it is coated with the dielectri c film, This paper will examine the source of this problem and the pla sma system variables that contribute to the issue. General single magn etron solutions will be described and explained with examples used for clarity. Shielding methods will be discussed and compared. Finally, a solution will be generated for a worst case example system, results e xamined, and costs compared with dual magnetron solutions. (C) 1997 El sevier Science S.A.