The rotating substrate holder of sputtering deposition for effective growth of thin copper films

Abstract

The homemade sputtering process was devised by a team of researchers. The copper bulk with nominal purity of 99.9% was used as a cathode target. Thin copper films were fabricated on glass slides by direct current sputtering (DC-sputtering) in vacuum chamber with base pressure of typically 10-2 mbar under argon gas (Ar). The effects of coated distances from cathode target to holder as 4, 7 and 10 cm on the morphology and crystallinity of thin Cu films were investigated. The system was designed and developed to improve the performance of coating thin film. A rotating holder was used as a supported function for the effective growth of the films. The holder was rotated with a constant angular speed of 30 rpm. The samples were examined with scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The experimental data revealed that the surface roughness and the crystallinity of thin copper films were improved by rotating function of a substrate holder.