Particle-in-Cell Simulations for the Improvement of the Target Erosion Uniformity by the Permanent Magnet Configuration of DC Magnetron Sputtering Systems

Improving the target erosion uniformity in a commercial direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering system is a crucial issue in terms of process management as well as enhancing the properties of the deposited film. Especially, nonuniform target erosion was reported when the magnetic flux density gradient existed. A two-dimensional (2D) and a three-dimensional (3D) parallelized particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation were performed to investigate relationships between magnetic fields and the target erosion profile. The 2D PIC simulation presents the correlation between the heating mechanism and the spatial density profiles under various magnet conditions. In addition, the 3D PIC simulation shows the different plasma characteristics depending on the azimuthal asymmetry of the magnets and the mechanism of the mutual competition of the E x B drift and the grad-B drift for the change in the electron density uniformity.