Full-Scale 3D Simulation of a sputtering magnetron

PIC simulations have been used to study ion energy distributions in magnetron plasmas, and coupled with other simulations to relate plasma processes to properties of sputtered films. The plasma is weakly ionized and exchanges heat with the background gas by scattering and charge-exchange reactions. Resulting heating of neutral background gas up to $\sim $1200K, leading to $\sim $5X rarefaction and increased plasma impedance, was studied with coupled PIC and Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) simulations. Effects of scaling the PIC simulations from 0.1X to 1X physical size, and modifying the plasma potential by a dc substrate bias, will be presented. Comparison to experimental I-V relations and importance for roughness and density of sputtered films will be discussed.