Influence of Sputtering Pressure on the Micro-Topography of Sputtered Cu/Si Films: Integrated Multiscale Simulation

G Zhu and MX Han and BJ Xiao and ZY Gan, PROCESSES, 11, 1649 (2023).

DOI: 10.3390/pr11061649

In this work, an integrated multiscale simulation of magnetron sputtering epitaxy was conducted to study the effect of sputtering pressure on the surface micro-topography of sputtered Cu/Si films. Simulation results indicated that, as the sputtering pressure increased from 0.15 to 2 Pa, the peak energy of the incident energy distribution gradually decreased from 2 to 0.2 eV, which might be mainly due to the gradual decrease in the proportion of deposited Cu atoms whose energy ranged from 2 to 30 eV; the peak angle of the incident polar angle distribution increased from 25 & DEG; to 35 & DEG;, which might be attributed to the gradual thermalization of deposited Cu atoms; the growth mode of Cu film transformed from the two-dimensional layered mode to the Volmer-Weber mode. The transformation mechanism of growth mode was analyzed in detail. A comprehensive analysis of the simulation results indicated that incident energy ranging from 2 to 30 eV and incident angle between 10 & DEG; and 35 & DEG; might be conducive to the two-dimensional layered growth of sputtered Cu films. This work proposes an application-oriented modeling approach for magnetron sputtering epitaxy.

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