Influence of ion source configuration and its operation parameters on the target sputtering and implantation process

• Published in: Review of scientific instruments 2012-06, Vol.83 (6), p.063304-063304
• Main Authors: Shalnov, K. V., Kukhta, V. R., Uemura, K., Ito, Y.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CARBON IONS; CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; CONFIGURATION; DEPOSITION; ELECTRIC POTENTIAL; GASES; GUNS; HARDNESS; Implantation; Initial conditions; INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; ION BEAMS; ION IMPLANTATION; ION SOURCES; IRON; KEV RANGE; MAGNETIC FIELDS; PLASMA; PRESSURE RANGE GIGA PA; SPUTTERING; Surface hardness; SURFACES; THIN FILMS; Voltage; X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
• ISSN: 0034-6748; 1089-7623
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4731009

In the work, investigation of the features and operation regimes of sputter enhanced ion-plasma source are presented. The source is based on the target sputtering with the dense plasma formed in the crossed electric and magnetic fields. It allows operation with noble or reactive gases at low pressure discharge regimes, and, the resulting ion beam is the mixture of ions from the working gas and sputtering target. Any conductive material, such as metals, alloys, or compounds, can be used as the sputtering target. Effectiveness of target sputtering process with the plasma was investigated dependently on the gun geometry, plasma parameters, and the target bias voltage. With the applied accelerating voltage from 0 to 20 kV, the source can be operated in regimes of thin film deposition, ion-beam mixing, and ion implantation. Multi-component ion beam implantation was applied to α-Fe, which leads to the surface hardness increasing from 2 GPa in the initial condition up to 3.5 GPa in case of combined N2-C implantation. Projected range of the implanted elements is up to 20 nm with the implantation energy 20 keV that was obtained with XPS depth profiling.