Liner conformality in ionized magnetron sputter metal deposition processes

The conformality of thin metal films (liners) formed on high-aspect-ratio trench structures in ionized magnetron sputter deposition processes is studied numerically and experimentally. The numerical simulator (SHADE) used to predict the surface topography is based on the shock-tracking method for surface evolution. The simulation results are in good agreement with experimentally observed thin-film topography. It is shown that combination of direct deposition and trench-bottom resputtering results in good conformality of step coverages and the amount of the resputtering needed for the good conformality is almost independent of trench aspect ratios. (C) 1996 American Vacuum Society.