In plasma-based deposition processing, the importance of low-energy ion bombardment during thin film growth can hardly be exaggerated. Ion bombardment is an important physical tool available to materials scientists in the design of new materials and new structures. Glow discharges and in particular the magnetron sputtering discharge have the advantage that the ions of the discharge are abundantly available to the deposition process. However, the ion chemistry is usually dominated by the ions of the inert sputtering gas while ions of the sputtered material are rare. Over the past few years, various ionized sputtering techniques have appeared that can achieve a high degree of ionization of the sputtered atoms, often up to 50 % but in some cases as much as approximately 90%. This opens a complete new perspective in the engineering and design of new thin film materials. The development and application of magnetron sputtering systems for ionized physical vapor deposition (IPVD) is reviewed. The application of a secondary discharge, inductively coupled plasma

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In this study, the effect on thin film growth due to an anomalous electron transport, found in high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) has been investigated for the case of a planar circular magnetron. An important consequence of this type of transport is that it affects the way ions are being transported in the plasma. It was found that a significant fraction of ions are transported radially outwards in the vicinity of the cathode, across the magnetic field lines, leading to increased deposition rates directly at the side of the cathode (perpendicular to the target surface). Furthermore, this mass transport parallel to the target surface leads to that the fraction of sputtered material reaching a substrate placed directly in front of the target is substantially lower in HiPIMS compared to conventional direct current magnetron sputtering (dcMS). This would help to explain the lower deposition rates generally observed for HiPIMS compared to dcMS. Moreover, time-averaged mass spectrometry measurements of the energy distribution of the cross-field transported ions were carried out. The measured distributions show a direction-dependent high-energy tail, in agreement with predictions of the anomalous transport mechanism.

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Transition between the discharge regimes of high power impulse magnetron sputtering and conventional direct current magnetron sputtering, 2009, PLASMA SOURCES SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY, (18) AbstractCurrent and voltage have been measured in a pulsed high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) system for discharge pulses longer than 100 µs. Two different current regimes could clearly be distinguished during the pulses: (1) A high-current transient followed by (2) a plateau at lower current.These results provide a link between the HiPIMS and the direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) discharge regimes. At high applied negative voltages the high-current transient had the characteristics of HiPIMS pulses, while at lower voltages the plateau values agreed with currents in DCMS using the same applied voltage. The current behavior was found to be strongly correlated with the chamber gas pressure, where increasing gas pressure resulted in increasing peak current and plateau current. Based on these experiments it is here suggested that the high-current transients cause a depletion of the working gas in the area in front of the target, and thereby a transition to a DCMS-like high voltage, lower current regime.Confidential: not for distribution.

Ta thin films were grown on Si substrates at different inclination angles with respect to the sputter source using high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS), an ionized physical vapor deposition technique. The ionization allowed for better control of the energy and directionality of the sputtered species, and consequently for improved properties of the deposited films. Depositions were made on Si substrates with the native oxide intact. The structure of the as deposited films was investigated using X-ray diffraction, while a four-point probe setup was used to measure the resistivity. A substrate bias process-window for growth of bcc-Ta was observed. However, the process-window position changed with changing inclination angles of the substrate. The formation of this low-resistivity bcc-phase could be understood in light of the high ion flux from the HIPIMS discharge.

In order to improve the adhesion of hard coatings such as CrN, a surface pretreatment by the novel high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) technique followed by reactive unbalanced d.c. magnetron sputtering deposition was performed using a Cr target. The HIPIMS plasma comprising a high metal ion-to-neutral ratio consisting of single-and doublecharged metal species identified by mass spectrometry increased the metal ion flux to the substrate. When applying a negative substrate bias U b the adhesion was enhanced due to sputter cleaning of the surface and metal ion intermixing in the interface region. This intermixing, resulting in a gradual change of the composition, is considered to enhance the adhesion of the hard coatings on steel substrates. The pretreatment was carried out in an inert gas atmosphere at a pressure of p Ar = 1 mTorr, the duration was varied between 25 and 75 min, whereas the negative substrate bias was varied between 400 V and 1200 V. The adhesion was found to depend on the substrate bias as well as on the target power and, for low substrate bias, on the duration of the pretreatment. For CrN the critical load of failure determined by scratch test could be increased in comparison to the values reported for specimens pretreated by conventional Ar etching. The influence of the target peak voltage, the substrate bias as well as pretreatment time on the constitution and morphology of the interface after the pretreatment is discussed applying analytical transmission electron microscopy.

Fully dense, non-faceted 111-textured high power impulse magnetron sputtering TiN films grown in the absence of substrate heating and bias, 2010, Thin Solid Films, (518), 21, 5978-5980. http://dx