Rotatable Magnetron Sputtering at the Right Pressure Point

The use of rotating cylindrical magnetron sputtering for large area coating is now being well accepted for over 20 years.

Besides significant improvements that have been made over the past years with respect to target utilization, material compositional flexibility and coating uniformity; new challenges are being introduced in coating requirements for e.g. coatings with deviating morphology, controlled energetic deposition of ceramic materials or for realizing uniform coatings on non-flat substrates.  In some cases, sputtering at lower or higher pressure levels may provide the right solution.

In this presentation, results from experimental work and modelling will be combined for understanding the impact of sputtering over a wide pressure range on deposition rate, spatial distribution of particles and target erosion uniformity.  In addition, the influence of pressure on negatively biased target material ions for depositing compound layers from ceramic targets will be investigated.  Finally, new requirements for magnetron designs will be highlighted.