I am curious about the effect of Ar flow on the voltage and current of DC magnetron sputtering under the same power and pressure? The pressure can be maintained at the same level with different Ar flow by using a throttle valve to adjust the pumping speed. I am wondering if anyone has any experience or explanation of this? Thank you.
You can find the answer in the following link https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233561649_Effect_of_sputtering_pressure_and_temperature_on_DC_magnetron_sputtered_CrN_films
Pressure has more effect on voltage and current than argon flow. By throttling Vacuum you create a pressure differential between process chamber and vacuum pump which is desirable in some circumstances.
Dear Bing Ma ,
As Robert Gal pointed out, by throttling the valve you would create a strong pressure gradient in the chamber, so the value of the pressure would be extremely dependent on the position of the pressure gauge in the chamber, which may lead to non-reproducible results. In general, growth regimes of thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering depend on the pressure, since changing the pressure modifies the balance between ballistic atoms and thermalized ones (i.e. those suffering collisions during their travel). In the particular case of oblique angle deposition, several morphologies can be obtained just varying the pressure, from nanocolumnar films to compact films. If you are interested, please read this paper:
Article Growth regimes of porous gold thin films deposited by magnet...
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