A sputter film is a thin layer of material created through a process called sputtering, which is a type of physical vapor deposition (PVD). In this process, atoms from a source material, known as the target, are ejected by the transfer of momentum from a bombarding particle, typically an ionized gas molecule. The ejected atoms then bond to a substrate at an atomic level, forming a thin film with a virtually unbreakable bond.
The sputtering process occurs in a vacuum chamber, where a small amount of argon gas is injected. The target material and substrate are placed on opposite sides of the chamber, and a voltage is applied between them using methods such as direct current (DC), radio frequency (RF), or medium frequency. The high-energy particles bombard the target material, causing the atoms and molecules to exchange momentum and pop out from the surface, a phenomenon known as sputtering.
Sputtering is a proven technology capable of depositing thin films from a wide variety of materials onto diverse substrate shapes and sizes. The process is repeatable and can be scaled up from small research and development projects to production batches involving medium to large substrate areas. To achieve the desired characteristics in a sputter-deposited thin film, the manufacturing process used to fabricate the sputtering target is critical. The target material can consist of an element, a mixture of elements, alloys, or compounds, and the process to produce the defined material in a form suitable for sputtering thin films of consistent quality is essential.
An advantage of the sputtering process is that sputter-ejected atoms have kinetic energies significantly higher than evaporated materials, resulting in better adhesion. Sputtering can be performed bottom-up or top-down, and even materials with very high melting points can be easily sputtered. Sputtered films exhibit excellent uniformity, density, purity, and adhesion. It is possible to produce alloys of precise composition with conventional sputtering or oxides, nitrides, and other compounds by reactive sputtering.
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