Target voltage behaviour during DC sputtering of silicon in an argon/nitrogen mixture

Depla, Diederik; Colpaert, Arnout; Eufinger, Karin; Segers, A; Haemers, Johan; Gryse, Roger De

doi:10.1016/s0042-207x(01)00415-8

Cited by 46 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…It is also in agreement with the fact that the discharge in poisoned mode using 2 / = 0.50 was only possible for a comparatively high pulse energy of 10 Ws. Finally, the results from current and voltage waveforms are in agreement with findings reported by Depla et al 36 . Langmuir probe measurements were carried out for discharges using 0.3 kHz in pure Ar, as well as in gas mixtures with 2 / of 0.16 and 0.28.…”

Section: Process Characteristics and Plasma Characterizationsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…For the acquisition of time-resolved data, the orifice faced the target with a distance of 320 mm and had an opening of 300 µm. Here, time-resolved IEDFs of the isotopes 15 N, 29 Si, 30 Si, and 36 Ar were recorded, due to the similarity of the masses and the abundance of Si and N ions. For all measurements, ion energies were recorded between -0.4 eV and 30 eV with a resolution of 0.5 eV and the spectrometer dwell time was set so that the presented data represent an average of at least 30 HiPIMS pulses.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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SiN_x Coatings Deposited by Reactive High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering: Process Parameters Influencing the Nitrogen Content

Schmidt

Hänninen

Goyenola

et al. 2016

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (rHiPIMS) was used to deposit silicon nitride (SiNx) coatings for bio-medical applications. The SiNx growth and plasma characterization were conducted in an industrial coater, using Si targets and N2 as reactive gas. The effects of different N2-toAr flow ratios between 0 and 0.3, pulse frequencies, target power settings and substrate temperatures on the discharge and the N content of SiNx coatings were investigated. Plasma ion mass spectrometry shows high amounts of ionized isotopes during the initial part of the pulse for discharges with low N2-to-Ar flow ratios of < 0.16, while signals from ionized molecules rise with the N2-to-Ar flow ratio at the pulse end and during pulse-off times. Langmuir probe measurements show electron temperatures between 2 -3 eV for non-reactive discharges and 5.0 to 6.6 eV for discharges in transition mode. The SiNx coatings were characterized with respect to their composition, chemical bond structure, density and mechanical properties by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray reflectivity, X-ray diffraction, and nanoindentation, respectively. The SiNx deposition processes and coating properties are mainly influenced by the N2-to-Ar flow ratio and thus by the N content in the SiNx films and to a lower extent by the HiPIMS frequencies and power settings as well as substrate temperatures. Increasing N2-to-Ar flow ratios lead to decreasing growth rates, while the N contents, coating densities, residual stresses and the hardnesses increase. These experimental findings were corroborated by density functional theory calculations of precursor species present during rHiPIMS.

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Section: Process Characteristics and Plasma Characterizationsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

SiN_x Coatings Deposited by Reactive High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering: Process Parameters Influencing the Nitrogen Content

Schmidt

Hänninen

Goyenola

et al. 2016

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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“…When P N2 increases to a critical value, gettering of the reactive gas becomes incomplete, which causes the formation of the compound on the target surface. Then the erosion rate and conductivity of the target drops, which reduces the deposition rate and raises the target voltage even further [28,29] , as shown in Table 2.…”

Section: Microstructure and Chemical Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Nitrogen Content on Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of WB2(N) Films Deposited by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

Liu

Deng

Lei

et al. 2015

Journal of Materials Science & Technology

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“…In paper III, target poisoning due to nitride compound growth was observed at a comparably high N 2 /Ar flow ratio of 0.5, due to low reactivity of nitrogen with silicon. [112] At lower N 2 /Ar flow ratios of 0.3 a small increase in peak target 2.1 Magnetron sputtering 13 current was observed, which was associated a larger number ions in target vicinity as a result of dissociation of N 2 , rather than being caused by the slightly lower ionization energy of N 2 (15.6 eV) to that of argon (15.8 eV) [115].…”

Section: Nitrogenmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…[111] The nitride compound growth on a silicon target surface is seen as a decrease in discharge current. [112] This is due the high surface work function of the compound (∼ 7 eV) [113] compared to that of a clean Si surface (4.6 eV) [114], resulting in a decreased secondary electron emission from the target according to equation (2.2). In paper III, target poisoning due to nitride compound growth was observed at a comparably high N 2 /Ar flow ratio of 0.5, due to low reactivity of nitrogen with silicon.…”

Section: Nitrogenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silicon Nitride Based Coatings Grown by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

Hänninen¹

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Silicon nitride and silicon nitride-based ceramics have several favorable material properties, such as high hardness and good wear resistance, which makes them important materials for the coating industry. This thesis focuses the synthesis of silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, and silicon carbonitride thin films by reactive magnetron sputtering. The films were characterized based on their chemical composition, chemical bonding structure, and mechanical properties to link the growth conditions to the film properties. Silicon nitride films were synthesized by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) from a Si target in Ar/N 2 atmospheres, whereas silicon oxynitride films were grown by using nitrous oxide as the reactive gas. Silicon carbonitride was synthesized by two different methods. The first method was using acetylene (C 2 H 2 ) in addition to N 2 in a Si HiPIMS process and the other was co-sputtering of Si and C, using HiPIMS for Si and direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) for graphite targets in an Ar/N 2 atmosphere. Langmuir probe measurements were carried out for the silicon nitride and silicon oxynitride processes and positive ion mass spectrometry for the silicon nitride processes to gain further understanding on the plasma conditions during film growth. The target current and voltage waveforms of the reactive HiPIMS processes were evaluated.The main deposition parameter affecting the nitrogen concentration of silicon nitride films was found to be the nitrogen content in the plasma. Films with nitrogen contents of 50 at.% were deposited at N 2 /Ar flow ratios of 0.3 and above. These films showed Si−N as the dominating component in Si 2p X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) core level spectra and Si−Si bonds were absent. The substrate temperature and target power were found to affect the nitrogen content to a lower extent. The residual stress and hardness of the films were found to increase with the film nitrogen content. Another factors influencing the coating stress were the process pressure, negative substrate bias, substrate temperature, and HiPIMS pulse energy. Silicon nitride coatings with good adhesion and low levels of compressive residual stress were grown by using a pressure of 600 mPa, a substrate temperature iii iv below 200 ℃, pulse energies below 2.5 Ws, and negative bias voltages up to 100 V.The elemental composition of silicon oxynitride films was shown to depend on the target power settings as well as on the nitrous oxide flow rate. Silicon oxide-like films were synthesized under poisoned target surface conditions, whereas films deposited in the transition regime between poisoned and metallic conditions showed higher nitrogen concentrations. The nitrogen content of the films deposited in the transition region was controlled by the applied gas flow rate. The applied target power did not affect the nitrogen concentration in the transition regime, while the oxygen content increased at decreasing target powers. The chemical composition of the films was show...

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Target voltage behaviour during DC sputtering of silicon in an argon/nitrogen mixture

Cited by 46 publications

References 18 publications

SiN_x Coatings Deposited by Reactive High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering: Process Parameters Influencing the Nitrogen Content

SiN_x Coatings Deposited by Reactive High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering: Process Parameters Influencing the Nitrogen Content

Effect of Nitrogen Content on Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of WB2(N) Films Deposited by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

Silicon Nitride Based Coatings Grown by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

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Target voltage behaviour during DC sputtering of silicon in an argon/nitrogen mixture

Cited by 46 publications

References 18 publications

SiNx Coatings Deposited by Reactive High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering: Process Parameters Influencing the Nitrogen Content

SiNx Coatings Deposited by Reactive High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering: Process Parameters Influencing the Nitrogen Content

Effect of Nitrogen Content on Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of WB2(N) Films Deposited by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

Silicon Nitride Based Coatings Grown by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

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SiN_x Coatings Deposited by Reactive High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering: Process Parameters Influencing the Nitrogen Content

SiN_x Coatings Deposited by Reactive High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering: Process Parameters Influencing the Nitrogen Content