Compatibility / How Our Design Works
Your current film characteristics will remain essentially the same after switching over to our new magnet designs. Our experience with sputtering has shown that plasma impedance versus power is dominated by cathode size, chamber geometry, and pressure. Most cathodes with magnetic field strengths similar to ours will have virtually the same plasma impedance curves. At the same time our designs offer the advantage of process stability over the life of the target. With other cathodes you may experience up to a 40% drop in operating voltage as the target erodes. By contrast, our cathodes typically experience a 10% to 20% drop.
Our patented magnet design works by trapping electrons in three erosion zones where we have balanced the magnetic field shape and strength to control electron density in a way that erodes a target evenly.
For your reference we have included the two adjacent plots illustrating voltage, current, and impedence versus power for a typical Ø6" cathode with an aluminum target.