Talk title: Plasma diagnostics in various configurations of reactive pulse magnetron sputtering systems used for thin film deposition of semiconductors
Recently, pulsed reactive sputtering has emerged as an increasingly promising deposition technology for the production of semiconductor thin films. A major advantage of this approach is its good compatibility with industrial mass production. Various semiconductor thin film binary and ternary oxides have recently been intensively investigated for gas sensors, photonic sensors and photoelectrochemical cells for solar water splitting and hydrogen production. Plasma parameters in the reactive sputtering process play a key role in the final quality of the semiconductor material. The most critical parameters are the electron temperature, the plasma density, the energy distribution function of the positive and negative ions and the degree of ionization of the sputtered particles. A reactive magnetron sputtering systems operating in different pulse modes (HiPIMS, MF) have been used for the deposition of various semiconducting oxides such as ZnO, WO₃, Fe₂O₃:Sn, Cu_xWO₄ and CuFeO₂. The plasma parameters during the deposition of these films were determined by means of an RF probe, magnetized QCM with biased electrode, optical emission spectroscopy and measurement of the energy distribution function of positive and negative ions at the substrate  using an energy resolved ion mass spectrometer and an RFA analyzer with a magnetic filter. The semiconducting properties of these films were determined by measurements in a photoelectrochemical cell, Mott-Schottky analysis and conductivity and photoconductivity measurements. High quality oxide semiconductor films such as ZnO, WO₃ and Fe₂O₃:Sn, Cu_xWO₄, CuFeO₂ were deposited under specific conditions of pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering. Optimum conditions were found for each material studied. The influence of the obtained plasma parameters such as electron temperature, ion density and the nature of the energy distribution function of positive and negative ions on the semiconductor parameters was demonstrated. It was found that the measured plasma parameters have a significant influence on the resulting semiconductor parameters.