The thickness uniformity of films deposited by magnetron sputtering with rotation and revolution

In this work, the thickness uniformity of films deposited by a radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering system with multi-workpiece rotation and revolution was studied. Under the conditions of planetary movement of a substrate underneath a magnetron sputter cathode, a new formula on the relation between the thickness of thin film and the parameters, such as rotation speed, revolution speed and the distance from target to substrate, was obtained. By the formula, the curves of relative deviations of film thickness versus the parameters were simulated. From the curves, the optimum parameters of the system can be easily obtained for preparing uniform films. It is found that the relative deviation of film thickness distribution is less than 3% within a diameter of Φ 100 mm when the ratio of the rotation speed to revolution speed is 5.3 and the results show good agreement with experimental ones.