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The HiTUS process provides substantial improvements in the sputtering of magnetic materials, both from a production and materials point of view. The confinement of magnetic field - so problematic to conventional 'magnetron' type sputter units - actually enhances the performance of the HiTUS system. When this is coupled with the usual HiTUS capability to 'tailor' plasma conditions, a powerful capability in magnetic thin film deposition can be realised.
We have demonstrated the following benefits using HiTUS: - high rate deposition of magnetic materials, including CoFe, NiFe, Co, Fe.
- ability to use thick targets – 6mm normally, up to 15mm so far – with usual HiTUS high utilisation gives less process down time and reliable run to run performance.
- near perfect magnetic properties – close to bulk material or theoretical ideal.
- excellent adhesion, low stress films deposited onto glass, silicon, oxides, plastics
- Grain size and thereby magnetic properties control through process modification
Our standard HiTUS unit has been used in multi-target mode to deposit multi-layer GMR films – the capability to repeatedly and reliably deposit identical alternating layers without recourse to thin film monitoring and absence of cross-contamination effects from prior layers has allowed rapid progression of such work. In addition, our current large area coating development of HiTUS has also proven equally effective in sputtering magnetic materials, opening up the potential for high rate – 500nm/min - large area deposition of magnetic thin films onto plastic or other sheet, or large batch coating of discrete substrates as required.
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