Invited Paper SE+PS-ThA3
Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering Systems for Reactive Deposition of Oxide and Nitride Films

Thursday, November 3, 2011, 2:40 pm, Room 104

In recent years, novel high-power pulsed dc magnetron systems have been used for sputtering of films[1].

In the presentation, we report on discharge and deposition characteristics, and on film structure and properties for two different pulsed magnetron sputtering techniques.

High power impulse magnetron sputtering of zirconium target in argon-oxygen gas mixtures was investigated at a high average target power density in a pulse, being up to 2kWcm^-2. The repetition frequency was 500Hz at duty cycles ranging from 2.5 to 10%. The total pressure of the argon-oxygen gas mixture was around 2 Pa. An effective reactive gas flow control, developed by us, was used for high-rate reactive deposition of insulating, highly optically transparent ZrO₂ films. In addition to the ZrO₂ films, high power impulse magnetron sputtering was also successfully used for high-rate reactive deposition of highly optically transparent Al₂O₃ and Ta₂O₅ films. Details of the process and measured properties of the films will be presented.

Pulsed dc magnetron sputtering of B₄C-Si (25:75%) target in an argon-nitrogen (50:50%) gas mixture at the total pressure of 0.5Pa was used for deposition of Si-B-C-N films with extremely high thermal stability (even above 1500°C). The repetition frequency was 10kHz at an 85% duty cycle to avoid microarcs at the target and thus, to produce high-quality defect-free films. Prior to the deposition, target atoms were subplanted into various substrates, being at a high negative rf potential, during their etching using pulsed magnetron sputtering of the B₄C-Si target in argon gas (the same repetition frequency and the duty cycle of 20%) to enhance adhesion of the Si-B-C-N films.

[1] K. Sarakinos, J. Alami, S. Konstantinidis, Surf. Coat. Technol. 204 (2010) 1661.