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磁控溅射沉积透明导电氧化物薄膜过程中,理解离子动力学过程是揭示“溅射损伤”机理并发展损伤抑制策略的关键。本研究在纯Ar气氛下,以氧化铟锡为阴极靶材,系统探讨辅助阳极正偏压对射频磁控放电中基底入射离子能量分布的影响。结果表明,入射正离子包括O+、Ar+、In+、Sn+及多种金属氧化物分子离子和双电荷离子,其能量由溅射原子的初始逸出能与等离子体电势共同决定,并随辅助阳极偏压的升高而增强。负离子源于阴极溅射,其中O-和O2-负离子能量分布宽广且呈多峰结构,与阴极电压、等离子体电势的射频振荡及离子输运的弛豫效应密切相关。金属氧化物负离子(InO-、InO2-、SnO-、SnO2-)对射频鞘响应滞后,其高能峰向阴极偏置电压收敛。高能负离子是导致“溅射损伤”的主要原因,施加辅助阳极正偏压能有效降低其能量,为透明导电氧化物薄膜损伤抑制提供潜在解决方案。Understanding the dynamics of ions in the magnetron sputtering process of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films is essential for clarifying the mechanisms of sputtering-induced damage and developing effective suppression strategies. In this work, indium tin oxide (ITO) was used as the cathode target in an RF magnetron sputtering system operating under pure argon atmosphere, and a positively biased auxiliary anode was introduced to modulate the plasma potential and investigate its effect on the ion energy distribution functions (IEDFs) at the substrate position. The ion energy spectra were measured using a commercial energy–mass spectrometer (EQP 1000, Hiden), and the plasma parameters such as potential and electron density were characterized using a radio-frequency compensated Langmuir probe. The results show that the incident positive ions consist mainly of O+, Ar+, In+, Sn+, as well as multiple metal oxide molecular and doubly charged ions. Their energies are determined by the combined effects of the initial ejection or backscattering energy of sputtered particles and the plasma potential. Increasing the auxiliary anode bias leads to an elevation of the plasma potential, thereby enhancing both the kinetic energy and flux of positive ions. In contrast, negative ions such as O- and O2- originate predominantly from cathode sputtering, exhibiting broad, multi-peaked energy distributions that are strongly influenced by RF oscillations of the cathode voltage and plasma potential, as well as relaxation effects during ion transport. Heavier metal oxide negative ions (InO-, InO2-, SnO-, SnO2-) respond more slowly to RF sheath modulation, with their high-energy peaks converging toward the cathode bias potential. Applying a positive auxiliary anode bias effectively reduces the cathode bias voltage, thereby suppressing the high-energy tail of negative ions without significantly affecting their total energy-integrated intensity. This demonstrates that auxiliary anode biasing provides an effective means to tune the ion energy distributions in magnetron sputtering discharges. The proposed approach offers a potential pathway for mitigating sputtering-induced damage and improving the structural and electronic quality of ITO films. Future work will focus on correlating the measured ion energy modulation with comprehensive film characterizations—including optical, electrical, and interfacial analyses—to further verify the physical mechanisms and evaluate the practical effectiveness of damage suppression during TCO deposition.
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Keywords:
- RF magnetron sputtering /
- indium tin oxide (ITO) /
- ion energy distribution /
- auxiliary anode
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