Effects of gas ring position and mesh introduction on film quality and thickness uniformity

Chromium oxide films were deposited using DC reactive magnetron sputtering system with different gas ring positions. It was found that the film quality was improved, while film thickness deviation over 2′ʹ area of silica wafer increased, as the distance between the target and the gas ring increased. To improve both the film quality and the thickness uniformity, a method of mesh insertion was tried and verified to meet the purpose. Introduction of mesh produced stable plasma and resulted in more uniform and smooth planar film without any contamination from the mesh. These phenomena were explained in terms of gettering and scattering effects of the mesh.