Comparison of reactive magnetron and reactive ion-beamsputtering for deposition of silicon oxide thin film

The optical characteristics of silicon oxide thin films deposited by the reactive magnetron (RMS) method were compared to those deposited by the reactive ion-beam sputtering (RIBS) method. Dependence of refractive index n, extinction coefficient k and deposition rate on oxygen concentration in Ar/O2 working gas mixture were determined. Silicon oxide films with the refractive index of 1.52～1.55 and extinction coefficient less 10-5 at the wavelength of 0.63m were deposited by RMS method with O2 content greater than 15% of working gas mixture. Silicon oxide films with refractive index of 1.52～1.6 and extinction coefficient less 10-5 were deposited by RIBS method with O2 content more than 80% of working gas mixture. In the case of RMS method, the SiO2 film deposition rate decreases almost 5 times when the process is switched to the reactive mode (more than 15% O2). On the contrary, in the case of RIBS, the deposition rate does not depend on the O2 concentration in the working gas mixture.