TITLE:
Deposition of a-CNx:H Films Using Uniform Supermagnetron Plasma under a Stationary Magnet Field
AUTHORS:
Haruhisa Kinoshita, Syunsuke Yagi, Motoki Sakurai
KEYWORDS:
SiO2 Film; a-CNx:H Film; Supermagnetron Plasma; Band Magnetron; CVD
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Modern Physics,
Vol.4 No.5,
May
23,
2013
ABSTRACT: By generating closed-loop electron E × B drift over the front and back surface of a band magnetron cathode, a uniform magnetron plasma can be formed over the front surface. Here, we attempted to generate a uniform supermagnetron plasma under a stationary magnetic field by situating two such band magnetron cathodes face-to-face in parallel. Performing uniform supermagnetron plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS)/O2 CVD, SiO2 films with good uniformity (±5%) at the central region of the cathode could be achieved under a stationary magnetic field of about 160 G. Using this supermagnetron plasma CVD apparatus, a-CNx:H films were then deposited to investigate their characteristics using isobutane (i-C4H10)/N2 mixed gases. A relatively high deposition rate of about 100 nm/min was obtained. The a-CNx:H films obtained had a hardness of about 25 GPa, higher than that of glass (22 GPa).