Hysteresis-free deposition of niobium oxide films by HiPIMS using different pulse management strategies

Hála, Matěj; Čapek, Jiří; Zabeida, O.; Klemberg-Sapieha, Jolanta E.; Martinů, L.

doi:10.1088/0022-3727/45/5/055204

Cited by 80 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The I pk value starts to rise at 2.1 sccm and it increases almost linearly from 2.1 to 4 sccm. A similar trend with increasing reactive gas flow were observed in other studies as mentioned [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. increasing and decreasing N 2 flow rates.…”

Section: Characterization Of the Reactive Processsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…These variations in the discharge current behaviour in the reactive sputtering process have been observed for different target materials, e.g. Nb [18], Hf [19], Ti [20], Si, Ta [21], Ru [22] in Ar/O 2 gas mixture, and for Cr [23] and graphite [24] in Ar/N 2 mixture and for graphite in Ar/CF 4 atmosphere [25]. As can be clearly seen from these reports, the discharge current is promising reference parameter to monitor the target surface composition in reactive sputtering.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…Hala et al [18] have shown a peak current dependency on the pulse frequency, in which a higher peak current was recorded at lower pulse frequency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Process stabilization by peak current regulation in reactive high-power impulse magnetron sputtering of hafnium nitride

Shimizu¹,

Villamayor²,

Lundin³

et al. 2016

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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Abstract.A simple and cost effective approach to stabilize the sputtering process in the transition zone during reactive high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is proposed. The method is based on real-time monitoring and control of the discharge current waveforms. To stabilize the process conditions at a given set point, a feedback control system was implemented that automatically regulates the pulse frequency, and thereby the average sputtering power, to maintain a constant maximum discharge current. In the present study, the variation of the pulse current waveforms over a wide range of reactive gas flows and pulse frequencies during a reactive HiPIMS process of Hf-N in an Ar-N 2 atmosphere illustrates that the discharge current waveform is a an excellent indicator of the process conditions. Activating the reactive HiPIMS peak current regulation, stable process conditions were maintained when varying the N 2 flow from 2.1 to 3.5 sccm by an automatic adjustment of the pulse frequency from 600 Hz to 1150 Hz and consequently an increase of the average power from 110 to 270 W. Hf-N films deposited using peak current regulation exhibited a stable stoichiometry, a nearly constant power-normalized deposition rate, and a polycrystalline cubic phase Hf-N with (111)-preferred orientation over the entire reactive gas flow range investigated. The physical reasons for the change in the current pulse waveform for different process conditions are discussed in some detail.

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Section: Characterization Of the Reactive Processsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 70%

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Process stabilization by peak current regulation in reactive high-power impulse magnetron sputtering of hafnium nitride

Shimizu¹,

Villamayor²,

Lundin³

et al. 2016

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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“…For example, it has been proposed that fast cleaning of the target surface causes the observed increased deposition rate in reactive HiPIMS. 11,16 Others reported formation of a very thick surface oxide layer on the order of hundreds of nm in reactive HiPIMS of Ti. 17,18 The thickness of an oxide layer formed by ion implantation is proportional to the ion range which is only few nm at the energy determined by the discharge voltage.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of sputtering target surface composition in reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering

Kubart

Aijaz

2017

Journal of Applied Physics

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Evolution of sputtering target surface composition in reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering. The interaction between pulsed plasmas and surfaces undergoing chemical changes complicates physics of reactive High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS). In this study, we determine the dynamics of formation and removal of a compound on titanium surface from the evolution of discharge characteristics in argon atmosphere with nitrogen and oxygen. We show that the time response of a reactive process is dominated by surface processes. Thickness of the compound layer is several nm and its removal by sputtering requires ion fluence in the order of 10 16 cm -2 , much larger than the ion fluence in a single HiPIMS pulse. Formation of the nitride or oxide layer is significantly slower in HiPIMS than in dc sputtering under identical conditions. Further, we explain very high discharge currents in HiPIMS by the formation of truly stoichiometric compound during the discharge off-time. The compound has very high secondary electron emission coefficient and leads to a large increase in the discharge current upon target poisoning. Journal of Applied Physics

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“…[54,69] Another possibility to achieve controllable deposition processes in the poisoned mode is to use arc suppression. [70,71] Nonlinear target effects due to different reactivities of O 2 and N 2 are a common problem occurring in synthesis of oxynitrides by magnetron sputtering. [17,19] Due to the higher reactivity of oxygen compared to nitrogen, it is more probable that the target is trapped into the poisoned state by oxygen if the reactive gas flows are not accurately controlled.…”

Section: Hipims In Oxygen-containing Atmospheresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silicon Oxynitride Thin Films Grown by Reactive HiPIMS

Hänninen¹

2015

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Amorphous silicon oxynitride (SiO x N y ) thin films were grown by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering from a pure silicon target in Ar/N 2 O plasmas. The elemental composition of the films was shown to depend on the target surface conditions during the film deposition, as well as on the reactive gas flow rate. When the target was sputtered under poisoned surface conditions, the film composition was predominantly silicon oxide, whereas films deposited in the transition regime between poisoned and metallic target surface conditions showed higher nitrogen concentrations, as measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA). The different target surface conditions were identified based on the evolution of the target current waveforms upon variation of the deposition parameters. The average electron temperatures during the peak target current were determined by Langmuir probe measurements, to assist with the explanation of the observed target current behavior and target poisoning characteristics.The chemical composition of the films was shown to range from silicon-rich to effectively stoichiometric silicon oxynitrides, where no Si−Si contributions were found in the XPS Si 2p core level spectra. The film optical properties, the refractive index n and the extinction coefficient k, were shown to depend on the film chemical bonding, with the effectively stoichiometric films displaying optical properties falling between those of SiO 2 and Si 3 N 4 .iii iv Acknowledgments

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Hysteresis-free deposition of niobium oxide films by HiPIMS using different pulse management strategies

Cited by 80 publications

References 45 publications

Process stabilization by peak current regulation in reactive high-power impulse magnetron sputtering of hafnium nitride

Process stabilization by peak current regulation in reactive high-power impulse magnetron sputtering of hafnium nitride

Evolution of sputtering target surface composition in reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering

Silicon Oxynitride Thin Films Grown by Reactive HiPIMS

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