Ion solid surface interactions in ionized copper physical vapor deposition

• Published in: Thin solid films 2002-12, Vol.422 (1), p.141-149
• Main Authors: Liu, X.-Y, Daw, M.S, Kress, J.D, Hanson, D.E, Arunachalam, V, Coronell, D.G, Liu, C.-L, Voter, A.F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Copper; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electron and ion emission by liquids and solids; impact phenomena; Exact sciences and technology; Impact phenomena (including electron spectra and sputtering); Ion and electron beam-assisted deposition; ion plating; Materials science; Metals. Metallurgy; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Molecular dynamics; Physics; Physics of gases, plasmas and electric discharges; Physics of plasmas and electric discharges; Plasma applications; Theory and models of film growth; Theory of impact phenomena; numerical simulation
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/S0040-6090(02)00870-2

A thorough understanding of ion-solid surface interactions is important for the predictive modeling of ionized metal plasma (IMP) Cu physical vapor deposition (PVD) at feature scales. Besides sticking coefficients and sputter yields, characterizations such as angular distributions of sputtered and reflected particles, and thermal-accommodation coefficients are also needed as inputs for a feature scale process simulator. Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations have been used to provide pertinent information and physical insights. MD results for Ar +/Cu and Cu +/Cu systems as a function of hyperthermal ion energies and incidence angles are reported. The issue of integrating different sticking coefficients for different surface roughness is addressed, based on ion travel distance analysis. We have found that the angular distribution of sputtered particles is not cosine, but can be described by a simple Gaussian-like formula. Ion reflection characteristics are also analyzed.