The influence of target surface morphology on the deposition flux during direct-current magnetron sputtering

Abstract The effect of the target surface morphology on the sputter deposition flux and the energy flux is investigated by comparing solid targets to pressed powder targets. A significant, material dependent difference of the effective sputter yield between both target types is noticed. This difference is explained by combining two effects: a local increase of the elemental sputter yield and the redeposition of sputtered atoms onto the target. Both effects strongly depend on the target surface morphology. The experimental trends are reproduced by Monte Carlo simulations. This allows a description of the angular distribution of the sputtered atoms which is an important parameter to define the particle flux and the energy distribution of the atoms arriving on the substrate. Using the previously developed particle trajectory code simtra , the latter is demonstrated for the studied materials (Al, Ag, Cu, and Ti).