Sputtering

Sputtering is a process whereby particles are ejected from a solid target material due to bombardment of the target
by energetic particles,[1] particularly gas ions in a laboratory. It only happens when the kinetic energy of the incoming
particles is much higher than conventional thermal energies (≫ 1 eV). This process can lead, during prolonged ion or
plasma bombardment of a material, to significant erosion of materials, and can thus be harmful. On the other hand, it
is commonly used for thin-film deposition, etching and analytical techniques. Sputtering is done either using DC
voltage (DC sputtering) or using AC voltage (RF sputtering). In DC sputtering, voltage is set from 3-5 kV and in RF
sputtering, power supply is set at 14 MHz. Due to the application of an alternating current, the ions inside the plasma
oscillate resulting in an increase in the levels of plasma.

Contents
Physics
Electronic sputtering
Potential sputtering
Etching and chemical sputtering
Applications and phenomena
Film deposition
Etching A commercial AJA Orion sputtering
For analysis system at Cornell NanoScale Science
In space and Technology Facility
References
External links

Physics
Physical sputtering is driven by the momentum exchange between the ions and atoms in the target materials, due to
collisions.[1][2][3]

The incident ions set off collision cascades in the target. When such cascades recoil and reach the target surface with
an energy greater than the surface binding energy, an atom would be ejected, and this process is known as sputtering.
If the target is thin on an atomic scale, the collision cascade can reach the back side of the target and atoms can escape
the surface binding energy "in transmission". The average number of atoms ejected from the target per incident ion is
called the sputter yield and depends on the ion incident angle, the energy of the ion, the masses of the ion and target
atoms, and the surface binding energy of atoms in the target. For a crystalline target the orientation of the crystal axes
with respect to the target surface is relevant.

The primary particles for the sputtering process can be supplied in a number of ways: for example by a plasma, an ion
source, an accelerator or by a radioactive material emitting alpha particles.

A model for describing sputtering in the cascade regime for amorphous flat targets is Thompson's analytical model.[4]
An algorithm that simulates sputtering based on a quantum mechanical treatment including electrons stripping at
high energy is implemented in the program TRIM.[5]
A different mechanism of physical sputtering is heat spike sputtering. This
may occur when the solid is dense enough, and then the incoming ion
heavy enough, that the collisions occur very close to each other. Then the
binary collision approximation is no longer valid, but rather the collisional
process should be understood as a many-body process. The dense
collisions induce a heat spike (also called thermal spike), which essentially
melts the crystal locally. If the molten zone is close enough to a surface,
large numbers of atoms may sputter due to flow of liquid to the surface
and/or microexplosions.[6] Heat spike sputtering is most important for
heavy ions (e.g. Xe or Au or cluster ions) with energies in the keV–MeV Sputtering from a linear collision
range bombarding dense but soft metals with a low melting point (Ag, Au, cascade. The thick line illustrates
Pb, etc.). The heat spike sputtering often increases nonlinearly with energy, the position of the surface, and the
thinner lines the ballistic movement
and can for small cluster ions lead to dramatic sputtering yields per cluster
paths of the atoms from beginning
of the order of 10,000.[7] For animations of such a process see "Re:
until they stop in the material. The
Displacement Cascade 1" in the external links section. purple circle is the incoming ion.
Red, blue, green and yellow circles
Physical sputtering has a well-defined minimum energy threshold equal to illustrate primary, secondary, tertiary
or larger than the ion energy at which the maximum energy transfer of the and quaternary recoils, respectively.
ion to a sample atom equals the binding energy of a surface atom. This Two of the atoms happen to move
threshold typically is somewhere in the range 10–100 eV. out from the sample, i.e. they are
sputtered.
Preferential sputtering can occur at the start when a multicomponent solid
target is bombarded and there is no solid state diffusion. If the energy
transfer is more efficient to one of the target components, or it is less strongly bound to the solid, it will sputter more
efficiently than the other. If in an AB alloy the component A is sputtered preferentially, the surface of the solid will,
during prolonged bombardment, become enriched in the B component, thereby increasing the probability that B is
sputtered such that the composition of the sputtered material will ultimately return to AB.

Electronic sputtering
The term electronic sputtering can mean either sputtering induced by energetic electrons (for example in a
transmission electron microscope), or sputtering due to very high-energy or highly charged heavy ions that lose energy
to the solid, mostly by electronic stopping power, where the electronic excitations cause sputtering.[8] Electronic
sputtering produces high sputtering yields from insulators, as the electronic excitations that cause sputtering are not
immediately quenched, as they would be in a conductor. One example of this is Jupiter's ice-covered moon Europa,
where a MeV sulfur ion from Jupiter's magnetosphere can eject up to 10,000 H2O molecules.[9]

Potential sputtering
In the case of multiple charged projectile ions a particular form of
electronic sputtering can take place that has been termed potential
sputtering.[10][11] In these cases the potential energy stored in multiply
charged ions (i.e., the energy necessary to produce an ion of this charge
state from its neutral atom) is liberated when the ions recombine during
impact on a solid surface (formation of hollow atoms). This sputtering
process is characterized by a strong dependence of the observed sputtering
yields on the charge state of the impinging ion and can already take place
at ion impact energies well below the physical sputtering threshold.
A commercial sputtering system
Potential sputtering has only been observed for certain target species[12]
and requires a minimum potential energy.[13]
Etching and chemical sputtering
Removing atoms by sputtering with an inert gas is called ion milling or ion etching.

Sputtering can also play a role in reactive-ion etching (RIE), a plasma process carried out with chemically active ions
and radicals, for which the sputtering yield may be enhanced significantly compared to pure physical sputtering.
Reactive ions are frequently used in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) equipment to enhance the sputter rates.
The mechanisms causing the sputtering enhancement are not always well understood, although the case of fluorine
etching of Si has been modeled well theoretically.[14]

Sputtering observed to occur below the threshold energy of physical sputtering is also often called chemical
sputtering.[1][3] The mechanisms behind such sputtering are not always well understood, and may be hard to
distinguish from chemical etching. At elevated temperatures, chemical sputtering of carbon can be understood to be
due to the incoming ions weakening bonds in the sample, which then desorb by thermal activation.[15] The hydrogen-
induced sputtering of carbon-based materials observed at low temperatures has been explained by H ions entering
between C-C bonds and thus breaking them, a mechanism dubbed swift chemical sputtering.[16]

Applications and phenomena

Film deposition
Sputter deposition is a method of depositing thin films by sputtering that involves eroding material from a "target"
source onto a "substrate" e.g. a silicon wafer, solar cell, optical component, or many other possibilities[17].
Resputtering, in contrast, involves re-emission of the deposited material, e.g. SiO2 during the deposition also by ion
bombardment.

Sputtered atoms are ejected into the gas phase but are not in their thermodynamic equilibrium state, and tend to
deposit on all surfaces in the vacuum chamber. A substrate (such as a wafer) placed in the chamber will be coated with
a thin film. Sputtering deposition usually uses an argon plasma because argon, a noble gas, will not react with the
target material.

Etching
In the semiconductor industry sputtering is used to etch the target. Sputter etching is chosen in cases where a high
degree of etching anisotropy is needed and selectivity is not a concern. One major drawback of this technique is wafer
damage.

For analysis
Another application of sputtering is to etch away the target material. One such example occurs in secondary ion mass
spectrometry (SIMS), where the target sample is sputtered at a constant rate. As the target is sputtered, the
concentration and identity of sputtered atoms are measured using mass spectrometry. In this way the composition of
the target material can be determined and even extremely low concentrations (20 µg/kg) of impurities detected.
Furthermore, because the sputtering continually etches deeper into the sample, concentration profiles as a function of
depth can be measured.

In space
Sputtering is one of the forms of space weathering, a process that changes the physical and chemical properties of
airless bodies, such as asteroids and the Moon. On icy moons, especially Europa, sputtering of photolyzed water from
the surface leads to net loss of hydrogen and accumulation of oxygen-rich materials that may be important for life.
Sputtering is also one of the possible ways that Mars has lost most of its atmosphere and that Mercury continually
replenishes its tenuous surface-bounded exosphere.

References
1. R. Behrisch (ed.) (1981). Sputtering by Particle bombardment:. Springer, Berlin. ISBN 978-3-540-10521-3.
2. P. Sigmund, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B (1987). "Mechanisms and theory of physical sputtering by
particle impact". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B. 27: 1.
Bibcode:1987NIMPB..27....1S (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1987NIMPB..27....1S). doi:10.1016/0168-
583X(87)90004-8 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0168-583X%2887%2990004-8).
3. R. Behrisch and W. Eckstein (eds.) (2007). Sputtering by Particle bombardment: Experiments and Computer
Calculations from Threshold to Mev Energies. Springer, Berlin.
4. M.W. Thompson (1962). "Energy spectrum of ejected atoms during the high- energy sputtering of gold". Phil.
Mag. 18 (152): 377. Bibcode:1968PMag...18..377T (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1968PMag...18..377T).
doi:10.1080/14786436808227358 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F14786436808227358).
5. J. F. Ziegler, J. P, Biersack, U. Littmark (1984). The Stopping and Range of Ions in Solids," vol. 1 of series
Stopping and Ranges of Ions in Matter. Pergamon Press, New York. ISBN 978-0-08-021603-4.
6. Mai Ghaly & R. S. Averback (1994). "Effect of viscous flow on ion damage near solid surfaces". Physical Review
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7. S. Bouneau; A. Brunelle; S. Della-Negra; J. Depauw; D. Jacquet; Y. L. Beyec; M. Pautrat; M. Fallavier; J. C.
Poizat & H. H. Andersen (2002). "Very large gold and silver sputtering yields induced by keV to MeV energy Aun
clusters (n=1–13)". Phys. Rev. B. 65 (14): 144106. Bibcode:2002PhRvB..65n4106B (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/ab
s/2002PhRvB..65n4106B). doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.65.144106 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevB.65.144106).
8. T. Schenkel; Briere, M.; Schmidt-Böcking, H.; Bethge, K.; Schneider, D.; et al. (1997). "Electronic Sputtering of
Thin Conductors by Neutralization of Slow Highly Charged Ions". Physical Review Letters. 78 (12): 2481.
Bibcode:1997PhRvL..78.2481S (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997PhRvL..78.2481S).
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9. Johnson, R. E.; Carlson, R. W.; Cooper, J. F.; Paranicas, C.; Moore, M. H.; Wong, M. C. (2004). Fran Bagenal;
Timothy E. Dowling; William B. McKinnon, eds. Radiation effects on the surfaces of the Galilean satellites. In:
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10. T. Neidhart; Pichler, F.; Aumayr, F.; Winter, HP.; Schmid, M.; Varga, P.; et al. (1995). "Potential sputtering of lithium
fluoride by slow multicharged ions". Physical Review Letters. 74 (26): 5280–5283.
Bibcode:1995PhRvL..74.5280N (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995PhRvL..74.5280N).
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.5280 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.74.5280). PMID 10058728 (https://ww
w.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10058728).
11. M. Sporn; Libiseller, G.; Neidhart, T.; Schmid, M.; Aumayr, F.; Winter, HP.; Varga, P.; Grether, M.; Niemann, D.;
Stolterfoht, N.; et al. (1997). "Potential Sputtering of Clean SiO2 by Slow Highly Charged Ions". Physical Review
Letters. 79 (5): 945. Bibcode:1997PhRvL..79..945S (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997PhRvL..79..945S).
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Reinhold, C.; et al. (1999). "Threshold for Potential Sputtering of LiF" (http://orbilu.uni.lu/bitstream/10993/17407/1/
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14. T. A. Schoolcraft and B. J. Garrison, Journal of the American Chemical Society (1991). "Initial stages of etching of
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2018-08-28.

External links
Thin Film Evaporation Guide (http://www.vem-co.com/thin-film-evaporation-guide)
What is Sputtering? (http://www.ajaint.com/whatis.htm) - an introduction with animations
Sputtering Basics - animated film of a sputtering process (http://www.heraeus-targets.com/en/technology/_sputteri
ngbasics/sputtering.aspx)
Free molecular dynamics simulation program (Kalypso) capable of modeling sputtering (http://sites.google.com/sit
e/KalypsoSimulation)
American Vacuum Society short courses (http://www.avs.org/education.catalog.aspx) on thin film deposition
Reactive Sputtering Using A Dual-Anode Magnetron System (http://www.advanced-energy.com/en/upload/File/Re
prints/Reactive%20Sputt%20Using%20Dual-Anode%20Mag%20Syst.pdf)
H. R. Kaufman, J. J. Cuomo and J. M. E. Harper (1982). "Technology and applications of broad-beam ion sources
used in sputtering. Part I. Ion source technology". Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. 21 (3): 725–736.
Bibcode:1982JVST...21..725K (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1982JVST...21..725K). doi:10.1116/1.571819 (http
s://doi.org/10.1116%2F1.571819).(The original paper on Kaufman sputter sources.)
Re: Displacement Cascade 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLGxAC2DxSs). YouTube. 2008.

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