| AVS 54th International Symposium | |
| Advanced Surface Engineering | Monday Sessions |
| Session SE+PS-MoA |
| Session: | Pulsed Plasmas in Surface Engineering |
| Presenter: | L. Martinu, Ecole Polytechnique, Canada |
| Authors: | A. Amassian, Ecole Polytechnique, Canada M. Dudek, Ecole Polytechnique, Canada P. Jedrzejowski, Ecole Polytechnique, Canada R. Vernhes, Ecole Polytechnique, Canada O. Zabeida, Ecole Polytechnique, Canada P. Desjardins, Ecole Polytechnique, Canada J.E. Klemberg-Sapieha, Ecole Polytechnique, Canada L. Martinu, Ecole Polytechnique, Canada |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Recent advances in science and technology stimulate the development of new coating materials, surface and interface engineering processes and thin film systems that provide an ever increasing performance in numerous areas ranging from optical and optoelectronic to aerospace, automotive, biomedical, microelectronic, and other applications. Many successful solutions in these particular fields have been identified when using ion-assisted deposition of thin films and thin film systems with tailored functional characteristics including the complex refractive index, the mechanical properties such as stress, hardness, friction coefficient and wear, the electrical conductivity, the gas and vapour permeation, and many others. In this context, we have recently investigated ion-surface interactions in a plasma environment (biased-controlled PECVD and PVD) using a methodology combining in situ real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry (RTSE), dynamic Monte-Carlo simulations, and different complementary methods such as ERD, HRTEM, SEM, AFM and others. These have the capability to detect and simulate subplantation-related processes, such as sub-surface structural and compositional modifications, and interface broadening, on time and depth scales relevant to functional coatings deposition. The ion-induced effects result in (i) rapid structural (<< 1 s) and compositional (< 2 s) changes as deep as ?10 nm below film or substrate surfaces, as well as (ii) significant ion mixing and interface broadening, and (iii) relocation of a large proportion of deposited atoms below the growth surface. Specifically, following a description of the principal physical processes, we will show examples when the above-mentioned methodology helped to enhance our understanding of the film growth and interface evolution for numerous single and multilayer functional coatings comprising TiO2, SiO2, Si3N4, ITO and the nanocomposite superhard TiN/SiN and TiCN/SiCN systems. We will also discuss the ion-controlled growth mechanisms in the context of new deposition approaches such as plasma pulsing.