Auxiliary capacitor to enhance oscillation in circuit and reduce current onset delay in HiPIMS discharge: Theory, experiment and simulation

Plasma flux and energy enhancement in BP-HiPIMS discharge via auxiliary anode and solenoidal coil

“…Therefore, in this section, together with the particle in cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC-MCC) simulation approach and theoretical analysis, the complex plasma dynamics for two types of magnetrons are systematically discussed. The algorithm and program of the PIC-MCC simulation are introduced in appendix A.2, which is carried out based on our previous work [11,34]. In this simulation, the negative pulse duration is 3 μs and the positive pulse duration is 7 μs, and the moment between pulses transition (U T = 0 V) is defined as t = 0 μs.…”

“…Meanwhile, the relatively high negative pulse voltage is not an effective solution because the arc and droplets will be generated usually, especially in the reactive magnetron discharge. Moreover, the ratio of ion returning back towards the target is also higher in the case of a higher target voltage, as simulated in [11]. Another approach by adjusting the magnetic field B to control charged-particle diffusion has been employed to increase deposition particle flux.…”

“…The HiPIMS discharge combines the traditional direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) with pulsed power technology to achieve high instantaneous power density discharge in a short pulse, typically with pulse duration of 10-200 μs and duty cycle of ∼1% [2,7,8]. The main benefits of HiPIMS process are relatively high plasma density up to 10 19 m −3 , high sputtered particle ionization rate up to ∼90%, low operation pressure of <1.0 Pa, and additionally avoiding overheating both the target and substrate [9][10][11]. In view of these outstanding characteristics, HiPIMS brings opportunities to improve ion bombardment energy on the growing films and in this way to optimize the films structures and properties.…”

Delayed Discharge Bridging Two Sputtering Modes from Modulated Pulsed Power Magnetron Sputtering (MPPMS) to Deep Oscillation Magnetron Sputtering (DOMS)

“…On the other hand, as a feature of τ s , the value of the major discharge was several microseconds longer than the value of the minor discharge. This suggests that the after-glow plasma (i.e., pre-ionized plasma [11,42,43]) made by major pulsed discharges shortens time τ s of the minor discharges [41]. It has been reported that τ s is lower than 2 µs in HiPIMS of copper [42].…”

“…The electrical breakdown is a statistical phenomenon [35][36][37], and its controllability also affects the stabilization/destabilization of sputtering operations. In the HPPMS study, there are reports on the breakdown voltage and breakdown time (i.e., the apparent delay time) [38][39][40][41], but only one study has reported quantitative measurement of the true delay time given by the sum of the statistical delay time and the formation delay time, which represent the statistical characteristics of the pulse discharge [42]. Although the statistical time, which is closely related to afterglow as media of the pre-ionization mode [11,42,43], which is important in the plasma build up stage, is an important factor in pulsed discharge dynamics in HPPMS, the statistical time has not been studied quantitatively.…”