The disadvantages of sputtering deposition can be summarized as follows:
1) Low deposition rates: Compared to other deposition methods such as thermal evaporation, sputtering rates are generally lower. This means that it takes longer to deposit a desired thickness of film.
2) Non-uniform deposition: In many configurations, the distribution of the deposition flux is non-uniform. This requires moving fixturing to obtain films of uniform thickness. Sputtering deposition is not suitable for depositing large-area films of uniform thickness.
3) Expensive targets and poor material use: Sputtering targets are often expensive, and the material use during the deposition process may not be efficient.
4) Heat generation: Most of the energy incident on the target in sputtering becomes heat, which must be removed. This requires the use of a cooling system, which can decrease production rate and increase energetic costs.
5) Film contamination: In some cases, gaseous contaminants in the plasma can become "activated" and cause film contamination. This can be more problematic than in vacuum evaporation.
6) Control of reactive sputter deposition: In reactive sputter deposition, the gas composition must be carefully controlled to prevent poisoning the sputtering target.
7) Difficulty in combining with lift-off process: The diffuse transport characteristic of sputtering makes it difficult to combine with a lift-off process for structuring the film. This can lead to contamination problems.
8) Impurities in substrate: Sputtering has a greater tendency to introduce impurities in the substrate compared to deposition by evaporation because it operates under a lesser vacuum range.
9) Difficulty in accurate control of film thickness: Although sputtering allows for high deposition rates without a limit of thickness, it does not allow for accurate control of film thickness.
10) Degradation of organic solids: Some materials, such as organic solids, are easily degraded by ionic bombardment during the sputtering process.
Overall, while sputtering deposition has several advantages, including better film densification and easier control of alloy composition, it also has significant disadvantages, such as low deposition rates, non-uniform deposition, and film contamination. These disadvantages should be considered when choosing a deposition method for specific applications.
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