TRIDYN simulation of target poisoning in reactive sputtering

TRIDYN simulations have been performed at varying reactive ion to total ion flux ratio, and at varying ion to reactive neutral flux ratio, for fluences which are sufficiently large to achieve a stationary deposition/erosion balance. The results illustrate that the two mechanisms will generate almost identical shapes of the poisoned layer. They also demonstrate the significance of recoil implantation from the chemisorbed layer for the formation of the compound layer. In agreement with experimental findings, the calculated sputter erosion rate of the target is predicted to decrease monotonically as the partial pressure of the reactive gas increases. The shape of the sputter erosion curve hardly changes between conditions dominated by ion implantation or chemisorption. We therefore conclude that ion implantation basically acts as an additional source of reactive atoms to the target surface.