Distribution of ion current density on a rotating spherical cap substrate during ion-assisted deposition
The uniformity of ion density is critical for applications relying on the ion assisted deposition technique for the fabrication of the high quality thin films. The authors propose and describe here a method allowing one to calculate the ion density distribution on spherical substrate holders under stationary and rotating conditions for different positions of the ion source. The ion beam shape was approximated by a cos{sup n} function, and the ion current density was represented by a function inversely proportional to the distance from the ion source in accordance with our experimental results. As an example, a calculation of the current density distribution on the spherical cap substrate was performed for a broad beam ion source operated with an anode current of 3 A. The authors propose an approach for process optimization with respect to the ion source position and its inclination, in terms of uniformity and absolute value of the ion current density.