Impact of Sputtered Groove Depth in Al-Target on Deposition Rate: An Experimental and Simulation Study

We addressed the problem of non-constant deposition-rate in growth of Al coatings by magnetron sputtering.The influence of the Al-target consumption, or the depth of the sputtered grooves, on the deposition-rate of Al coatings was mathematically modeled, theoretically analyzed in electromagnetics and "hollow cathode effect"theories, and experimentally investigated.The results show that the groove depth in Al-target significantly affected the deposition-rate.For example, as the Al-consumption increased, the deposition-rate changed in an increase-decrease mode, resulting in a largest thickness difference by 40%.Possible mechanism was tentatively discussed.The analytical dependence of the Al-coating thickness, grown under the fixed conditions, on the groove depth was derived by statistical analysis of the measured results and with Origin simulation software.We suggest that the results we reported be of some technological interest in synthesis of Al coatings by magnetron sputtering.