Paper SE+PS-TuM5
Metallic Film Modification through the Use of Non-standard HiPIMS Waveforms

Tuesday, October 30, 2012, 9:20 am, Room 22

High power impulse magnetron sputtering, HiPIMS, has been the source of significant scientific interest in recent years. HiPIMS consists of a high voltage / high current pulse, followed by a long off-period resulting in low duty cycles. In the present study additional control parameters are explored by using non-standard HiPIMS waveforms, consisting of pulse sequences. These pulse sequences consist of a number of micro-pulses, which can be varied in length. In a further novel approach to HiPIMS, the pulses were also applied in a bi-polar manner, with a positive voltage supplied to the same target between negative voltage pulses. Films have been grown using varied pulse sequences, in both uni- and bi-polar mode, and compared to materials grown both by traditional, single pulse, HiPIMS and dcMS.The deposition of Ti metal was chosen as a model system, and the attained coatings were analysed using X-ray diffraction, XRD, scanning electron microscopy, SEM, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, XPS. An increased deposition rate, relative to a comparable standard HiPIMS pulse, was observed. The coating microstructures show increased smoothening of the coating surface and shallower surface oxidation for samples deposited using micro-pulsed HiPIMS.