To enhance the ionization level of ionized magnetron sputter deposition, th
e modulation of sputtering power was examined by using optical emission spe
ctroscopy (OES) and probe analysis of the pulsed plasma as in situ diagnost
ics when Ag is sputtered in Ar. Probe analysis of internal inductively coup
led plasma (ICP) was performed over a range of Ar pressures and rf powers,
and harmonic analysis was done using fast Fourier transformation. Medium fr
equency (55 kHz) sputtering power was pulsed with various on/off duties to
recover the 4 or 13.56 MHz excited ICP's electron temperature which is quen
ched by heavily sputtered metals of low ionization threshold. The volumetri
c ion fractions of Ag and Ar, estimated by OES, showed distinct increase at
100/100 ms of on-off duty, which resulted in a change in preferred orienta
tion of deposited Ag films from (111) to (200) by 3.6 times in the ratio of
integrated diffraction intensities. Moreover, the measured substrate curre
nt did not decrease linearly by the expected rate on the basis of on-off du
ties. (C) 2000 American Vacuum Society. [S0734-2101(00)01301-4].