Experimental study of a pre-ionized high power pulsed magnetron discharge

Vašina, Petr; Meško, Marcel; Imbert, Jean-Christophe; Ganciu, M.; Boisse‐Laporte, C.; Poucques, Ludovic de; Touzeau, M.; Pagnon, Daniel; Bretagne, J.

doi:10.1088/0963-0252/16/3/009

Cited by 61 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…19,113,[131][132][133][134] An electric circuit diagram illustrating a pulse generator with a preionizer is shown in Fig. 6.…”

Section: Pulse Generatormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is sometimes done by using a dc power supply to maintain a conventional dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS) discharge and then overlay high power pulses with low duty cycle, referred to as preionized HiPIMS. 19 Other approaches include modulating the pulse such that in the initial stages of the pulse (few hundred microseconds) the power level is moderate (typical for a dcMS) followed by a high power pulse (lasting a few hundred microseconds up to a millisecond), and is referred to as modulated pulse power (MPP). 20 The nomenclature for pulsed discharges used in this paper is based on the peak power density at the target p t , combined with the duty cycle (the percentage of the time that the pulse is on) as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High power impulse magnetron sputtering discharge

Guðmundsson¹,

Brenning²,

Lundin³

et al. 2012

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

623

446

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The high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) discharge is a recent addition to plasma based sputtering technology. In HiPIMS, high power is applied to the magnetron target in unipolar pulses at low duty cycle and low repetition frequency while keeping the average power about 2 orders of magnitude lower than the peak power. This results in a high plasma density, and high ionization fraction of the sputtered vapor, which allows better control of the film growth by controlling the energy and direction of the deposition species. This is a significant advantage over conventional dc magnetron sputtering where the sputtered vapor consists mainly of neutral species. The HiPIMS discharge is now an established ionized physical vapor deposition technique, which is easily scalable and has been successfully introduced into various industrial applications. The authors give an overview of the development of the HiPIMS discharge, and the underlying mechanisms that dictate the discharge properties. First, an introduction to the magnetron sputtering discharge and its various configurations and modifications is given. Then the development and properties of the high power pulsed power supply are discussed, followed by an overview of the measured plasma parameters in the HiPIMS discharge, the electron energy and density, the ion energy, ion flux and plasma composition, and a discussion on the deposition rate. Finally, some of the models that have been developed to gain understanding of the discharge processes are reviewed, including the phenomenological material pathway model, and the ionization region model.

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“…19,113,[131][132][133][134] An electric circuit diagram illustrating a pulse generator with a preionizer is shown in Fig. 6.…”

Section: Pulse Generatormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High power impulse magnetron sputtering discharge

Guðmundsson¹,

Brenning²,

Lundin³

et al. 2012

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

623

446

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Several ideas on biasing the magnetron cathode for the sake of increasing ion energy after the plasma pulse in the HiPIMS case emerged in the 2000s. [5][6][7] Later on, the influence of a positive cathode bias applied during the entire plasma off-time on the discharge current evolution has been studied by Nakano et al 8 However, synchronized ion repulsion has been proposed in this work. The idea of the bipolar discharge regime with a negative (plasma) pulse and a controllable positive (bias) pulse in the HiPIMS case (referred in this work as "bipolar pulse HiPIMS" or BPH) is implemented only in 2018 by Wu et al, 9 where a beneficial effect of bipolar pulsing on the Cu film stress and adhesion is shown.…”

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confidence: 94%

Ion density evolution in a high-power sputtering discharge with bipolar pulsing

Britun

Michiels

Godfroid

et al. 2018

Applied Physics Letters

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Time evolution of sputtered metal ions in high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) discharge with a positive voltage pulse applied after a negative one (regime called “bipolar pulse HiPIMS”—BPH) is studied using 2-D density mapping. It is demonstrated that the ion propagation dynamics is mainly affected by the amplitude and duration of the positive pulse. Such effects as ion repulsion from the cathode and the ionization zone shrinkage due to electron drift towards the cathode are clearly observed during the positive pulse. The BPH mode also alters the film crystallographic structure, as observed from X-ray diffraction analysis.

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“…The superposition technique between a HiPIMS and an auxiliary power supply has been developed by a number of groups for different proposes. Bugaev et al [118] used a pre-ionisation source to ignite the pulse plasma at pressure 0.6 -1 Pa. Vašina et al [119][120][121] proposed the use of a low power DC pre-ioniser for a fast HiPIMS discharge with a very short pulse width of < 10 µs at operating pressures between 0.7 -1.4 Pa. In addition, Bandorf et al [122] also introduced a high power DC discharge in addition with HiPIMS in order to increase the deposition rate at operating pressure of about 0.5 -2 Pa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short- and long-term plasma phenomena in a HiPIMS discharge

Poolcharuansin

Bradley²

2010

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

111

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High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is a plasma-based thin film deposition technique in which extremely high power pulses are applied to a conventional magnetron sputtering source. As a result, the plasma density in HiPIMS discharges is considerably increased up to 10 19 m −3 , about three orders of magnitude higher than that in conventional direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) discharges. Hence the vapour of the sputtered species becomes highly ionised, leading to remarkable improvement in the microstructure and the properties of depositing films. To better control the deposition process, it is important to gain insights into the properties and the dynamics of the HiPIMS plasmas. This thesis is associated with the investigations on HiPIMS plasmas using a number of electrical diagnostic tools including a Langmuir probe, a retarding field energy analyser and a gridded quartz crystal microbalance. It was shown, using a Langmuir probe analysis, that there are three distinct groups of electrons generated during first the 4 µs of the HiPIMS pulse. These electrons are super-thermal or beam-like electrons with effective temperatures of up to 100 eV, hot electrons with temperatures up to 7 eV and cold electrons with temperatures < 1 eV. As time progresses, however, these electrons develop into single-temperature Maxwellian electrons. Using the retarding field energy analyser located at typical substrate positions, it was found that ions travel to a grounded substrate with an average energy of up to 10 eV during 20-40 µs into the HiPIMS pulse, and with an energy of 3 − 5 eV for the rest of the pulse. Ions escaping to the side of the discharge axis are also investigated using the movable and rotatable retarding field analyser. It was found that ions, circulating with a similar direction as the electron E×B drift in the magnetised region, are able to azimuthally escape from the discharge with a mean velocity of 8 × 10 3 m s −1 , unless there are collisions with residual gases. Together with the knowledge of radial electric field, determined from plasma potential, the equations of circular motion of an ion fluid element have been solved numerically. Using a biased quartz crystal microbalance in combination with a gridded electrode, the ionised metal flux fraction in a HiPIMS discharge has been investigated. The average discharge power was varied from 0.3 to 1.3 kW and, irrespective of the power control method used, an associated decrease in the flux fraction (from 50% to 30%) was observed. The mechanisms responsible for this decrease in the time-averaged flux fraction of metal ions are associated with the probability of ionisation of the sputtered species and the effect of the ions returning to the target. Finally, a technique of the superposition of a dc pre-ioniser and a HiPIMS power supply is proposed to operate a HiPIMS discharge at a pressure down to 0.08 Pa. The pre-ioniser provides a background plasma with a density of 10 15 m −3 to assist the HiPIMS build-up at the low-pressure range. Using an ener...

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Experimental study of a pre-ionized high power pulsed magnetron discharge

Cited by 61 publications

References 38 publications

High power impulse magnetron sputtering discharge

High power impulse magnetron sputtering discharge

Ion density evolution in a high-power sputtering discharge with bipolar pulsing

Short- and long-term plasma phenomena in a HiPIMS discharge

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