Simulation Of Charged Particles Distribution In DC Magnetron Sputtering

Magnetron sputtering is one of the most important technologies in the coating industry. It has many advantages, such as high deposition rate, low deposition temperature and good film quality, so it is widely used. Nowadays, large area coating is applied more and more, the prospect of magnetron sputtering is very bright. However, magnetron sputtering still exist some disadvantages, such as non-uniform etching and low material utilization ratio. This is mainly caused by the uneven distribution of charged particles near the target surface. Therefore, the simulation for the distribution of magnetic field and charged particles near the target surface is very meaningful.In this paper, we use COMSOL simulate the distribution of magnetic field, and we use OOPIC simulate the distribution of charged particles. In this paper, two different models are simulated. One is the rectangular target straight region model, the other is the circular target model. We use2D method simulate the rectangular target straight region model, and we use2D axisymmetric method simulate the circular target model.We use COMSOL simulate magnetic field of the rectangular target straight region model. And we find that the magnet produce two symmetrical and arched magnetic field near the target surface. We can extract the magnetic field data from COMSOL. Then use MATLAB deal with it, we can get the magnetic field file which would be imported OOPIC. After that, we use OOPIC simulate charged particles distribution of the rectangular target straight region model. We obtain the picture of charged particles distribution and the curve of particle flux density distribution on target surface. The picture of charged particles distribution may let people have an intuitive understanding for the distribution of electrons and argon ions in magnetron sputtering. The curve of ion flux density distribution on target surface may reflect target etching morphology on a certain level.We also simulate magnetic field and charged particles distribution of the circular target model. We get the picture and the data of magnetic field distribution. We also get the picture of charged particles distribution and the curve of particle flux density distribution on target surface. Then, we simulate the distribution of charged particles under the conditions of the different magnetic field strength and the different cathode voltage. By comparing the curves of ion flux density distribution, we find that the curve will become narrow with the enhancement of the magnetic field. It means the target etching morphology will become narrow with the enhancement of the magnetic field. We also find that the curve will not change with the change in the cathode voltage. It means the change in the cathode voltage does not influence the target etching morphology. These studies may provide a reference for process parameter optimization in DC magnetron sputtering.