| AVS 55th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Advanced Surface Engineering | Friday Sessions |
| Session SE+PS-FrM |
| Session: | Pulsed Plasmas in Surface Engineering |
| Presenter: | M. Samuelsson, Linköping University, Sweden |
| Authors: | M. Samuelsson, Linköping University, Sweden H. Högberg, Impact Coatings, Sweden H. Ljungcrantz, Impact Coatings, Sweden U. Helmersson, Linköping University, Sweden |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Nanocomposite Ti-Si-C thin films grown by dc-magnetron sputtering (dcMS) are interesting for many applications, such as in electrical contacts. This is due to a property envelope including low contact resistance, ductility and hardness that can be combined. Other areas of applications are also suggested, which call for increased possibility to design the material for specific needs. A promising deposition technique is high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), which offers a high degree of ionization of the sputtered material not found in conventional dc-magnetron sputtering. Growth from ions instead of neutrals is likely to further increase the possibility of designing the film microstructure and thereby the properties. In this study we have investigated sputtering from a Ti3SiC2 target by HiPIMS and compared the technique with dcMS. The techniques have been compared for different process pressures and substrate bias voltages using a pilot plant deposition system under production like conditions. The results show that the obtained HiPIMS growth rate was approximately 13% of that of dcMS for comparable average powers. Further studies employing SEM, TEM, XRD measurements, surface resistivity and film adhesion will be presented.