Simulation of complete film growth process by magnetron sputtering

The various aspects of the complete films growth process, including generation of the sputtered atoms, its collision and scattering, its deposition, formation of clusters, and film growth, were simulated with the newly-developed multi-scale model, by a combination of particle-in-cells (PIC), Monte Carlo and clouds-in-cell (CIC) methods. The impacts of film growth conditions, such as the substrate temperature, deposition rate, magnetic field distributions, and separation between target and substrate, on film growth and properties were analytically studied. The simulated results show that the substrate temperature and the deposition rate strongly affect the initial stage of the film growth. For example, higher temperature and lower deposition rate results in denser and more compact films. Large target-substrate distance reduces the surfaces roughness;and the magnetic field distribution significantly influences target utilization rate, but has little effect on the final film topography.