Sputtering Technique of Magnesium Oxide Thin Film for Plasma Display Panel Applications

A high rate deposition sputtering process of magnesium oxide thin film in oxide mode has been developed using a 20 kW unipolar pulsed power supply. The power supply was operated at a maximum constant voltage of 500 V and a constant current of 40 A. The pulse repetition rate and the duty were changed in the ranges of $10\sim50$ kHz and $10\sim60%$, respectively. The deposition rate increased with rising incident power to the target. Maximum incident power to the magnesium target was obtained by the control of frequency, duty and current. The deposition rate of a moving state was 9 nm m/min at the average power of 1.5 kW. This result shows higher deposition rate than any other previous work involving reactive sputtering in oxide mode. The thickness uniformities over the entire substrate area of $982mm{\times}563mm$ were observed at the processing pressure of $2.8\sim9.5$ mTorr. The thickness distribution was improved at lower pressure. This technique is proposed for application to a high through-put sputtering system for plasma display panels.