CPMI attends ICMCTF 2009 in San Diego

Graduate student Andrew Cloud will present a talk on CPMI’s, “Characterization of HIPIMS Discharge for Next Generation Semiconductor Fabrication,” paper H2-1-4, at 9am on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at ICMCTF 2009.  This is at the Town and Country Hotel in San Diego.

Thin films produced using High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS) have attracted considerable attention in the coating industry due to their excellent adhesion, superior density, and other favorable tribological properties. The extreme high power pulse densities provide a high concentration of metal ions and produce high-quality, homogeneous
coatings. The high ionization fraction allows for fine control of the sputtered species during deposition, a feature well suited to the needs of future semiconductor fabrication techniques. HIPIMS may provide a highly scalable means of depositing diffusion barrier coatings and metallic features in the high aspect ratio interconnect trenches required for future chip designs. HIPIMS discharges from a planar magnetron were characterized and evaluated for potential as a chip processing tool. A gridded energy analyzer and quartz crystal microbalance were used to measure a higher ionization fraction in the HIPIMS discharge than with conventional magnetron sputtering under a variety of deposition conditions. The energy spectrum and flux of these ions at the substrate location were also measured. Plasma electron temperature and density as a function of pressure and power were mapped over a 3D region between the sputter target and substrate level by Langmuir probe analysis. A triple probe was used to study plasma conditions during the pulse. Deposition rates and film quality were evaluated. Characterization of the resultant films’ structure, quality,
and uniformity over the width of a 200 mm wafer and across surface features were performed.