| AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Advanced Surface Engineering | Monday Sessions |
| Session SE+PS-MoA |
| Session: | Pulsed Plasmas in Surface Engineering |
| Presenter: | K. Sarakinos, Linköping University, Sweden |
| Authors: | K. Sarakinos, Linköping University, Sweden A. Aijaz, Linköping University, Sweden M. Samuelsson, Linköping University, Sweden U. Issaksson, Linköping University, Sweden U. Helmersson, Linköping University, Sweden |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Growth of films by condensation from the vapor phase frequently proceeds far from thermodynamic equilibrium giving rise to metastable configurations with unique attributes which are largely determined by the energy of the film forming species. One way of transferring energy to the growing film is via bombardment by ionized species which are present in plasma assisted physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques. High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is a novel plasma assisted PVD technique in which large fluxes of energetic ions are made available at the growing film. This is achieved by applying the power to the target in short unipolar pulses of low duty cycle (<10%) and frequency (<10 kHz). This mode of operation results in the generation of ultra dense plasmas (electron densities 1018-1019 m-3) and a subsequent high degree of ionization for both gas atoms and sputtered material. HiPIMS has been extensively used for the deposition of polycrystalline elemental and compounds films facilitating control over their microstructure, phase composition, optical, mechanical and electrical properties. In the present talk the use of HiPIMS for the deposition of amorphous and nanocrystalline carbon and metal nitride based films is demonstrated. Discharges are generated using a variety of experimental parameters with respect to the pulse width, pulsing frequency, composition and pressure of the gas atmosphere. Time-averaged and time-resolved plasma diagnostics reveal that the variation of the above mentioned process parameters allows for control over the flux, the energy and the nature of the bombarding ionized species. Growth of films at those conditions enables to tune their bonding properties, their microstructure and their crystallinity and through this tailor important functional attributes such as their mechanical performance and high temperature stability.