Refilling and Planarization of Patterned Surface with Amorphous Carbon Films by Using Gas Cluster Ion Beam Assisted Deposition

Planarization of nano-structured surface has become important for various devices such as the bit patterned media or discrete track media for next generation storage devices. In this study, gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) assisted deposition was used to deposit amorphous carbon film on line-and-space pattern to realize simultaneous refilling and planarization. As GCIB irradiations induce dense energy depositions, the density of the amorphous carbon film deposited with GCIB assisted deposition became high compared to the other chemical vapor deposition (CVD) based deposition technique. The line-and-space pattern was refilled and planarized by deposition of amorphous carbon films by using Ar-GCIB assisted deposition. The thickness required for planarization with amorphous carbon deposition using Ar-GCIB assisted deposition was approximately the initial peak-to-valley height of the line-and-space pattern. Thus, very effective refilling and planarization is realized by using GCIB assisted deposition. (C) 2010 The Japan Society of Applied Physics