Showing papers by "Akira Kinbara published in 2000"

Time-dependent O2 mass balance change and target surface oxidation during mode transition in Ti–O2 reactive sputtering

Abstract: Time-dependent O2 mass balance change among the amounts injected into the chamber, pumped out from the chamber, gettered by sputtered Ti metal, residing in the chamber, and consumed to oxidize the target surface has been investigated as a function of time elapsed after the discharge ignition in Ti–O2 reactive sputtering. From the mass balance results obtained, target surface coverage has been estimated. In the period of up to 10 s after discharge ignition, the gettering of O2 by sputtered Ti dominated the process change. In this period, the target surface oxidation rate was low. In the period of 20–50 s, the amount of O2 consumed to target surface oxidation surpassed the amount of O2 gettered by deposited Ti, resulting in a drastic increase in the target coverage. After the target surface oxidation was completed, the process became stable. In this period, the amount of O2 pumped out without causing any process changes increased and a very small amount of O2 was consumed to oxidize the target surface. The ...