Quantification of the incorporation coefficient of a reactive gas on a metallic film during magnetron sputtering: The method and results

Reactive Magnetron Sputtering is a complex process and huge efforts are made addressing the understanding of its fundamental phenomena and the simulation of the deposition process by e.g. Particle in Cell/Monte Carlo (PIC/MC). One of the most uncertain parameters in this reactive sputtering process is the incorporation coefficient of the reactive gas in the growing layer, i.e. the real-time sticking coefficient during deposition. In this work, mass spectrometry is used to deliver more insights on this complex matter. Earlier, a method was developed to determine the incorporation coefficient of the reactive gas molecules in the growing metal film, using mass spectrometry combined with thin film analysis techniques (electron probe microanalysis and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy). This method delivers a global, realistic incorporation coefficient which can be used in models for the reactive sputtering process. In this work, new insights have been added to the classical method. As previously only molecular reactive gas particles were considered, the here described method extends to determine the global incorporation coefficient of all reactive gas particles, i.e. both molecular as atomic. The incorporation coefficient of oxygen gas during the reactive magnetron sputtering of Cu, Al, Mg and Y, is determined. It can be concluded that for the first three metal systems, the obtained incorporation coefficient is mainly determined by the molecular oxygen, while for Y both atomic and molecular oxygen are important. Furthermore, a trend between the difference in electronegativity of the metal and the reactive gas, and the incorporation coefficient can be observed.