Investigation using Monte-Carlo codes simulations for the impact of temperatures and high pressures on thin films quality

Abstract

The quality of thin films represents the key to any improvement made in the device components manufacturing, and the way to obtain this quality based on deposition parameters takes the attention of our group. In this work, using the sputtering technique in the context of the Monte-Carlo approximation, an investigation of the effect of temperature and elevated pressure on the number of ejected particles and hence their deposition and the creation of finest thin films are applied. A vacuum chamber with 30x30x50 cm in dimension holding a magnetron which has a 2 cm in radius circular target was created. Inside this chamber, 105 particles of Argon (Ar) followed by the same number of xenon (Xe) gas are injected. This target moves away by 15cm from the substrate (with 7 cm in radius), containing three materials (Silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), and copper (Cu)) widely used in advanced technologies as in electronics and photovoltaic cells panels. Evident and satisfactory results were obtained, demonstrating that increasing pressure (0.5, 2, and 5 Pa) for both gases drops off in a spectacular way the total number (with different values) of the material particles reaching the substrate and disrupting the morphology of the thin films. moreover, and contrary to pressure, it has also been proved that mounting gas temperatures of 100, 300, and 600 K, representing three different states in kelvin degrees, where 100 K-173°C for the low (cold), 300 K27°C for the regular (atmospheric) and 600 K327°C for the high (warm) instances, supply a large number of materials atoms in substrate-level which conduct to the finest quality of the thin films. In addition, germanium gives the best results compared to silicon and copper.