SPUTTERING BEHAVIOR OF BORON USING ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE PLASMA

Boron sputtering by plasma ions is investigated using electron cyclotr on resonance (ECR) discharge of neon gas. The temperature of boron on an electrode during the discharge becomes high enough that the resista nce of boron is sufficiently small in comparison with that of the plas ma sheath in the application of negative voltage V. Ion current flowin g from the plasma and the line emission from the sputtered boron are m easured as a function of V under conditions of microwave input power 2 00-500 W and the neon gas pressure 1-10 mTorr. The sputtering yield at ion energy E=3 keV is about one order of magnitude larger than that a t E=0.5 keV. Boron thin films are prepared by the sputtering method in the case of V=-2 kV. The deposition rate normalized by the ion curren t is about 100 Angstrom/s/A measured at a distance of about 2 cm from the boron surface.