Plasma property of inductively coupled discharge and substrate bias co-assisted very-high-frequency magnetron sputtering

Very-high-frequency (VHF) magnetron sputtering is an important method to deposit the polycrystalline films at low temperature. To increase the plasma density, ion flux and to control the ion energy, the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and substrate bias co-assisted VHF magnetron sputtering was developed. The plasma properties of this system were measured by a Langmuir probe and a retarding field energy analyzer. In the VHF magnetron sputtering, the ICP discharge can increase the plasma density effectively but has a small influence on the ion energy and ion flux; the substrate bias can increase the plasma density and ion flux more effectively but result in the divergence of ion energy. When the ICP discharge and substrate bias are simultaneously applied, the divergence of ion energy can be suppressed, while the high plasma density (2.6 × 1017 m− 3) and ion flux (4.3 × 1020 m− 2⋅ s− 1) can be remained. Therefore, the ICP and substrate bias co-assisted VHF magnetron sputtering is a possible way to deposit the polycrystalline films at low temperature with a higher growth rate.