Optimization of an ionized metal physical vapor deposition reactor

Summary form only given. Conventional sputtering for microelectronic fabrication produces poorly collimated neutral atom fluxes. Ion fluxes, however, can be accelerated and collimated by using a conventional dc or rf substrate bias. Hence, magnetron ionized metal physical vapor deposition (IMPVD) can produce highly ionized metal fluxes that can be used to fill high-aspect-ratio vias and trenches in microelectronic devices. Hopwood and Qian (1995) have examined design issues in IMPVD systems. In this study, a design of experiment (DOE) has been numerically performed for an IMPVD reactor using an inductively coupled plasma and a capacitively biased substrate. Gas pressure, reactor geometry, ICP power, and number of inductive coils are the design variables. Uniformity, magnitude, and ionization fraction of the depositing fluxes are the response variables. The influence of the design variables on the response variables is examined, with the goals of obtaining high uniformity, high magnitude, and high ionization fraction of the depositing metal fluxes.