Growth of nanocomposite films: From dynamic roughening to dynamic smoothening

Pei, Yu; Shaha, K. P.; Chen, C.Q.; Hulst, R. van der; Turkin, A. A.; Vainshtein, D.I.; Hosson, J.Th.M. De

doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2009.07.017

Cited by 32 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The value of ␣, calculated from height-height correlation function, for these films show decreasing trend from 0.7 to 0.5 with increasing growth time indicating formation of subnanometer crater formation in the vicinity of impact site. This contradicts with the smoothening due to local melting induced by thermal spikes proposed by Casiraghi et al 19 It is believed that the intensive and continuous impingement with high flux and high energy ions causes impact induced downhill flow of adatoms in the presence of top amorphous layer 11 as proposed by Moseler et al 20 This surface diffusion competes with the geometrical shadowing and noise induced roughening to evolve surface smoothening. However, during 100 kHz p-dc sputtering, the Ar + ion and energy flux is quite low compared to the case of 350 kHz p-dc sputtering.…”

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confidence: 49%

“…[8][9][10] Recently, we have reported that dynamic growth behavior of thick TiC/a-C films grown by p-dc sputtering on smooth surface depends upon the applied pulse frequency. 11 At higher pulse frequency, dynamic roughening was completely suppressed and rather dynamic smoothening was revealed. 12 However, the question remains: Can dynamic smoothening be achieved for these films grown on initially rough surfaces?…”

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confidence: 92%

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On the dynamic roughening transition in nanocomposite film growth

Shaha

Pei

Chen

et al. 2009

Applied Physics Letters

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Surface roughness and dynamic growth behavior of TiC/a-C nanocomposite films deposited by nonreactive pulsed-dc (p-dc) magnetron sputtering were studied using atomic force microscopy, cross-sectional scanning, and transmission electron microscopy. From detailed analyses of surface morphology and growth conditions, it is concluded that a transition in growth mechanisms occurs, i.e., a mechanism dominated by geometric shadowing at a p-dc frequency of 100 kHz evolving to a surface diffusion mechanism driven by impact-induced atomistic downhill flow process by Ar+ ions at a p-dc frequency of 350 kHz. It is shown that rapid smoothening of initially rough surfaces with rms roughness from ∼6 to <1 nm can be effectively achieved with p-dc sputtering at 350 kHz pulse frequency, leading to a transition from a strong columnar to a columnar-free microstructure.

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confidence: 49%

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confidence: 92%

On the dynamic roughening transition in nanocomposite film growth

Shaha

Pei

Chen

et al. 2009

Applied Physics Letters

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“…represents the general appearance of the nanocomposite coatings and has a dense columnar structure, where the width of the columns increases with coating thickness, which is expected for such coatings deposited with dc magnetron sputtering [45,46].…”

Section: Figure 4 Xps C1s Regions From Coatings 1-4mentioning

confidence: 99%

High-rate deposition of amorphous and nanocomposite Ti–Si–C multifunctional coatings

Lauridsen

Eklund

Joelsson

et al. 2010

Surface and Coatings Technology

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2 transport of the species. Increased target-to-substrate distance from 2 cm to 8 cm resulted in a higher carbon-to-titanium ratio in the coatings than for the Ti 3 SiC 2 compound target, due to different gas-phase scattering properties between the sputtered species. The coatings microstructure could be modified from nanocrystalline to predominantly amorphous by changing the pressure and target-to-substrate conditions to 4 mTorr and 2 cm, respectively. A decreased pressure from 10 mTorr to 4 or 2 mTorr at a target-tosubstrate distance of 2 cm decreased the deposition rate up to a factor of ~7 as explained by resputtering and an increase in the plasma sheath thickness. The coatings exhibited electrical resistivity in the range 160-800 µΩcm, contact resistance down to 0.8 mΩ at a contact force of 40 N, and nanoindentation hardness in the range 6-38 GPa.

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“…Such a wide energy distribution of impinging ions is essential for obtaining ultra-smooth films according to the atomistic impact-induced downhill flow model [40] and the experimental validation [41]. Accordingly, the time-resolved IEDF with a nanosecond time resolution provides critical information for the design of pulse waveform in p-dc power sources in terms of IED optimization for the control of films microstructure and properties.…”

Section: Time-resolved Iedf In a Pulsed Magnetron Reactormentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion energy distribution measurements in rf and pulsed dc plasma discharges

Gahan

Hayden

Scullin

et al. 2012

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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A commercial retarding field analyzer is used to measure the time-averaged ion energy distributions of impacting ions at the powered electrode in a 13.56 MHz driven, capacitively coupled, parallel plate discharge operated at low pressure. The study is carried out in argon discharges at 10 mTorr where the sheaths are assumed to be collisionless. The analyzer is mounted flush with the powered electrode surface where the impacting ion and electron energy distributions are measured for a range of discharge powers. A circuit model of the discharge, in combination with analytical solutions for the ion energy distribution in radio-frequency sheaths, is used to calculate other important plasma parameters from the measured energy distributions. Radio-frequency compensated Langmuir probe measurements provide a comparison with the retarding field analyzer data. The time-resolved capability of the retarding field analyzer is also demonstrated in a separate pulsed dc magnetron reactor. The analyzer is mounted on the floating substrate holder and ion energy distributions of the impinging ions on a growing film, with 100 ns time resolution, are measured through a pulse period of applied magnetron power, which are crucial for the control of the microstructure and properties of the deposited films.

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Growth of nanocomposite films: From dynamic roughening to dynamic smoothening

Cited by 32 publications

References 32 publications

On the dynamic roughening transition in nanocomposite film growth

On the dynamic roughening transition in nanocomposite film growth

High-rate deposition of amorphous and nanocomposite Ti–Si–C multifunctional coatings

Ion energy distribution measurements in rf and pulsed dc plasma discharges

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