Silver Thin Films Deposited by Compact Magnetron Sputtering System

A compact dc magnetron sputtering system capable of silver thin films depositions was designed and constructed. The novel small footprint sputtering head with target diameter of 52 mm was constructed utilizing powerful neodymium alloy magnet. Silver metal was sputter-deposited under various powers. Plasma parameters were analyzed by using the sweeping-bias single langmuir probe. The electron temperatures of the plasma glow were constant at approximately 2 eV even with the increasing of input power whereas plasma density increases with the increasing of the input power. The X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to study the crystalline structure and the surface morphology of the obtained silver thin films. Crystalline orientations of (111) and (200) in the silver films deposited on slide glass substrates were revealed from XRD pattern. The highest degrees of (111) and (200) orientations was obtained at the sputtering power between 0.228 and 0.265 Wcm-2. Sub-micron crystalline silver grain structure were observed using SEM micrographs. Facetted grain size and deposition rate of silver thin films increases as the sputtering power increases.