I try to find a relation between Power (P), Argon pressure (ppm) and probably distance (cm) between cathode and plate so as to have maximum ionisation of gas.
you have to monitor the discharge current to know something about the ionisation, and also monitor the deposition rate, which would give an idea about the bombardment occurring on the target, the sputtering yield, and eventually the deposition rate that is achieved. You should know the film thickness that has been developed on the substrate, by meauring it accurately, either with a film thickness monitor insitu, or externally with an off line thickness profiler.
At a fixed power, and a substrate to target distance, an increasing pressure should result in increasing deposition rate, and ultimately beyond a certain pressure, the deposition rate would go down due to enhanced scattering.
An appropriate pressure for routine thin film deposition would be around 5 to 15 mTorr.
Actually DC mangnetron sputtering allows you to strike a discharge at lower sputtering ressures of 5 mTorr, and such low pressures many a times with different materials help in obtaining a better quality thin films.
There is a lot of literature available, and many good books are also there which I think you should read and consult to understand the complex inter dependence of sputtering parameters.
K. Sreenivas
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