| AVS 55th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Advanced Surface Engineering | Friday Sessions |
| Session SE+PS-FrM |
| Session: | Pulsed Plasmas in Surface Engineering |
| Presenter: | R. Chistyakov, Zond Inc. |
| Authors: | R. Chistyakov, Zond Inc. B. Abraham, Zpulser LLC W.D. Sproul, Reactive Sputtering, Inc. J.J. Moore, Colorado School of Mines J. Lin, Colorado School of Mines |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Modulated pulse power (MPP) sputtering is a versatile high power pulse magnetron sputtering technique in which there can be multiple voltage steps within a pulse. Different levels of applied voltage in the same voltage pulse will generate different power levels for the magnetron discharge. Usually each pulse shape has a weakly ionized plasma (low power magnetron discharge) step that was generated first, and then the second stage that has a strongly ionized plasma (high power magnetron discharge) by applying a voltage increase to the cathode. These arbitrary voltage pulse shapes can be used within a given deposition run to form multilayer film structure. Therefore every layer can be sputtered with a different voltage pulse shape. In this study, two different voltage pulse shapes were selected. The first pulse had a shorter duration that the second pulse, but by varying the repetition rate the same average power could be delivered during the sputtering of each layer. The peak power applied to the plasma was greater during the second pulse, which meant that a greater amount of energy was applied to the process during the peak power phase of the second pulse. The difference in the applied energy between the two MPP pulse shapes was used during the reactive sputter deposit of aluminum oxide films . This two-pulse approach did produce a nanometer scale layering of the aluminum oxide coatings, which was observed in a scanning electron microscope. The thickness and structure of each nanometer scale layer was controlled by varying the output voltage pulse shape of the MPP plasma generator and deposition time. The layering of the aluminum oxide affected not only the structure of the films, but it also affected the mechanical properties of the films. The film structure, orientation, and mechanical properties were analyzed and measured, and the results of the film property measurements will be presented.