Effect of Magnetron Plasma Parameters on the Sputtered Thin Films of Copper

A sputtering apparatus was designed and manufactured with a planar circular DC magnetron. The effect of magnetic field lines on the plasma structure was shown using photo imaging. Unbalanced condition of the magnetron was demonstrated under different values of voltage, pressure and distance between cathode and substrate. The effect of these variables was studied on the coatings thicknesses, their composition and light absorption using the data from the experiments of light photo spectrometry. Keywords: sputtering; magnetron; absorption; spectrometry .