DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE AREA SPUTTER-COATING METHOD USING MAGNETIZED AC PLASMAS WITH INCLINED ELECTRODES

A novel sputter coating method has been developed for preparing large area thin films. Plasmas are generated with a number of long plate electrodes by an a.c. discharge; thus all the electrodes operate as sputtering targets. Two large substrates are sustained outside the discharge region, and deposited simultaneously. To increase the deposition rate and to improve the uniformity of the deposited films, an external magnetic field is applied transverse to the discharge electric field; further, the electrodes are inclined at a proper angle. When the magnetic flux density is more than 38 Gauss, a strong increase in the deposition rate is observed. From the viewpoint of both deposition rate and uniformity, the use of completely inclined targets is shown to be promising for high rate and uniform sputter coating of large area substrates.