Transport process of sputtered atoms becomes more complex in mid-to-high pressure environment (220 Pa). At high pressures, sputtered atoms collide with ambient gas atoms frequently, and are ready to thermalize. We have been studying the situation with both Monte-Carlo (MC) computer simulation and experiment. We have extended the MC simulation in two ways : One is the formulation of the relative motion of the colliding gas atom against the sputtered atom, and the other is the description of the flow of decelerated atoms with a diffusion equation. This new simulation has been applied to the pressure dependence of the thickness profile of sputtered Cu films, and also to that of the film composition in the case of the sputter deposition from LaB
6 target. It has been found experimentally that the relative Cu deposition ratio on hidden faces takes the maximum and the B/La ratio takes the minimum, both at midst pressure. Numerical simulation agrees well with the experimental results, and we conclude that these experimental behaviour can be ascribed to the thermalization of sputtered particles.
抄録全体を表示