SPUTTERING BEHAVIOR OF BORON USING ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE PLASMA

Boron sputtering by plasma ions is investigated using electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) discharge of neon gas. The temperature of boron on an electrode during the discharge becomes high enough that the resistance of boron is sufficiently small in comparison with that of the plasma sheath in the application of negative voltage V. Ion current flowing from the plasma and the line emission from the sputtered boron are measured as a function of V under conditions of microwave input power 200-500 W and the neon gas pressure 1-10 mTorr. The sputtering yield at ion energy E=3 keV is about one order of magnitude larger than that at E=0.5 keV. Boron thin films are prepared by the sputtering method in the case of V=-2 kV. The deposition rate normalized by the ion current is about 100 Angstrom/s/A measured at a distance of about 2 cm from the boron surface.