Effect of Noble Gases on the Properties of Ion Beam Sputtered Niobium Films

摘要

All of the results presented here support our hypothesis that the reflection of the primary beam during sputtering plays a significant role in determining final film properties, especially in the case of ion beam sputtering. The film properties are affected both by noble gas incorporation in and noble gas bombardment of the growing film. It is not as evident for sputtering in a planar arrangement for three main reasons: (i) the reflection coefficient is minimized by sputtering at normal incidence, (ii) the higher gas pressures used can scatter the reflected particles, and (iii) the target potential keeps any ionized reflected particles from escaping the dark space region, accelerating them back to the target. Keywords: Reprints; Noble gases; Niobium films; Ion beam sputtering. (jhd)