What is the TS distance?
In sputtering deposition, the term “TS distance” is often heard, but what is the TS distance in the first place?
TS distance is an abbreviation for Target-Substrate Distance, and refers to the distance between the target of the material to deposit and the substrate to be deposited.
Varying this TS distance changes the deposition speed and film quality (adhesion strength, crystal orientation, composition, reflectance, surface roughness, etc.)
A short TS distance (i.e. close to the substrate and target) results in faster deposition speeds and thicker films in a shorter time, but the substrate damage from heat and UV radiation can be also greater due to the short distance between the plasma and substrate.
Conversely, a longer TS distance (i.e. the substrate and target are further away) reduces the effects of heat and UV radiation, but slows down the deposition rate.
During deposition, it is necessary to understand this trade-off relationship in order to find the optimum deposition conditions.
Hearing all this, you may be thinking, “That sounds like a lot of work” or “Maybe I should not get involved in sputtering deposition”.
However, since sputter deposition utilizes physical laws such as electro-magnetism, once the optimal deposition conditions are found, the deposition can be reproduced many times under the same conditions.
We also offer a test deposition service.
Why not start by trying sputtering deposition with the entry-level SSP1000 Cubic Sputtering Equipment?
