ICMCTF 2012! - CD-Lab Application Oriented Coating Development

een demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that this
configuration allows a high ionization degree of sputtered target material
while reaching the same high deposition rate as for planar magnetrons
operated in the DC mode. It has been shown that this ICM configuration,
which is moreover ideally adapted for a homogeneous wire coating due to
its cylindrical symmetry, promotes a better self-assistance with target ions
and allow for a repeated use of ionized species to maintain a high ionization
degree in metal plasma. Also, the magnetron was intentionally designed
with an unbalanced system of magnets to ensure the diffusion of the plasma
electrons along the force lines of the magnetic field to the central part of the
discharge volume. This magnetic field can permit to form a channel from
the target surface to the wire, where the plasma volume can be extended
down to the substrate area with minimal losses. It has also been shown that
a non-stationary magnetic field allows to a better stabilization of the
discharge voltage even at a high degree of the target erosion.
The outstanding performance of the ICM prototype, which is characterized
by a much higher deposition rate than in conventional planar systems, was
validated in direct measurements. The values of the deposition rate for the
ICM were compared with a reactor equipped with 4 planar magnetrons
surrounding the wire for the same power input per the cm 2 of the target
surface. It was concluded that a 10 times higher deposition rate can be
achieved with this ICM designed system. Also, in order to demonstrate the
performance of the wire coated prototype instrument, elaborations of ZnO
and AlTiSiN films on wires have been achieved. The structural and
chemical properties of the ceramic films has been established and correlated
with end-used performances.
3:30pm F2-2-6 Low pressure High Power Impulse Magnetron
Sputtering systems for deposition of biomedical functional thin films, V.
Stranak (stranv00@centrum.cz), University of Greifswald, Germany, M.
Cada, Z. Hubicka, Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic, S. Drache, A.P.
Herrendorf, H. Wulff, R. Hippler, University of Greifswald, Germany
INVITED
The high ionization of sputtered metal particles is a main advantage of High
Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) discharges. Large quantity
of ionized sputtered material leads to the growth of smooth and dense films,
allows control of the crystallography phase, mechanical and optical
properties etc. Because of these positive effects there is reason to develop
sputtering sources with high level of metal ionization. It is already known
that namely energy of ions and incoming particles to growing film is a key
parameter which influences film property. In our contribution we report two
novel HiPIMS-based techniques which allow energy control in wide range.
The first system is a unipolar hybrid-dual HiPIMS based on a combination
of dual-HiPIMS (the system where two magnetically and electrically
confined magnetrons are alternately operated in HiPIMS mode, f = 100 Hz,
duty cycle 1 %) with mid-frequency (MF) discharge operated at f = 94 kHz
and duty cycle 30 %. The second system is based on sputtering of HiPIMS
driven electrode inserted in RF discharge with an additionally superimposed
magnetic field (ECWR). The most important feature of these hybrid
methods is the pre-ionization effect which causes/allows: (i) significant
reduction of working pressure by nearly two orders of magnitude, (ii)
intensive ionization of metal atoms with substantial amount of double
ionized species, (iii) increase of HiPIMS power density and other discharge
parameters, (iv) faster ignition and development of HiPIMS pulses.
Enhanced time-resolved diagnostic of developed plasma sources has been
done. From time-resolved Langmuir probe measurements was estimated
mean electron energy, electron density and electron energy probability
function (EEPF). The plasma density reached values about 5.10 18 m -3 during
HiPIMS pulses at low pressure (0.04 Pa). The time–resolved measurements
of Ion Velocity Distribution Functions (IVDFs) and Ion Energy Distribution
Functions (IEDFs) were performed. It was found that ion energies during
HiPIMS pulses are strongly enhanced (about 20-30 eV) while in
background (MF or RF) discharge were measured much lower values.
Parameters from Langmuir probe diagnostic serve also as input for
calculation of influx contributions of particular species, e.g. neutral
particles. The study of plasma transport effects was done by fast optical
emission imaging and spectroscopy.
This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through
SFB/TR 24 and by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
(BMBF) through Campus PlasmaMed. Further projects KAN301370701 of
ASCR, 1M06002 of MSMT and project 202/09/P159 of GACR are
acknowledged.
4:10pm F2-2-8 Material properties of Aluminum Metal
(Titanium/Chromium) Nitride coatings deposited by High Power
Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS + ) technology., F. Papa
(fpapa@hauzer.nl), A. Campiche, R. Tietema, T. Krug, Hauzer Techno
Coating, BV, Netherlands, T. Sasaki, T. Ishikawa, Hitachi Tool
Engineering, Ltd., Japan
Aluminum Metal (Titanium/Chromium) Nitride coatings have been
deposited from targets consisting of tiles from 4 different aluminum metal
compositions using HIPIMS + technology. In such a configuration, the
changes in material properties such as hardness and crystal orientation can
be analyzed for many coating compositions while keeping the plasma
conditions constant. The peak cathode current has been used as the control
variable as this has a strong influence on the metal ion content within the
plasma and the plasma density. As the peak cathode current is increased, the
crystal size and structure change significantly. The effect of varying the
plasma density on the proportion of the cubic/hexagonal phase for such
materials as Al(Ti/Cr)N is of great interest for hard coatings for cutting tool
applications.
4:30pm F2-2-10 On the Influence of superimposed MF and
HPPMS/HiPIMS pulsed packages on the deposition rate and properties
of TiN, J. Alami (Jones.Alami@inicoatings.de), Z. Maric, INI Coatings
Ltd., Germany, M. Malzer, M. Fenker, FEM Forschungsinstitut Edelmetalle
& Metallchemie, Germany, M. Mark, J. Löffler, E. Parra Maza, G. Mark,
MELEC GmbH, Germany
High Power Pulse Magnetron Sputtering, HPPMS (also known as HiPIMS),
is a promising pulsed plasma technology for deposition of high quality thin
films. HPPMS has been shown to exhibit very high electron density and
ionization of the sputtered material. The plasma charged particles are easily
affected by magnetic and electric fields and present therefore conditions for
the thin film developer to control the energy bombardment and
subsequently the properties of the deposited thin films. Even if HPPMS has
a great potential for bringing new and interesting solutions to the PVD
market, it is still inconsistent and not standardized as is always the case for
new technologies or techniques. It has been established that in order for
HPPMS to function in an optimal fashion, it is of importance to understand
not only the plasma condition of the process but also how the different parts
of a coating system interact with each other in order to give the right
process conditions needed for the deposition.
A number of works have characterized and attempted to correlate the effect
of pulsing on the HPPMS process, especially on the deposition rate. These
have used different power supplies as well as different power supply
combinations in order to achieve the different modes of operation. They
found that the pulsing configuration and frequency affect to a large extent
the coating process as well as the resulting thin film properties.
Recent approaches supply power to the magnetron source by superimposing
a medium frequency (MF) and a HPPMS power unit. The main
advantage of such an approach is to provide means to even better architect
the plasma conditions that best enable a suitable compromise between
deposition rate and ionization. Moreover, the combination of MF and
HPPMS allows better tuning of the process parameters and therewith the
resulting thin film’s properties. This new approach for using the HPPMS
technique is appropriate for single and dual magnetron sputtering and
synchronized pulsed bias. It is therefore possible to perform stable reactive
depositions in continuous operating systems such as inline glass coaters.
The present work investigates the influence of the pulsed power controllers
and the mechanisms for producing the very high peak currents needed for
the HPPMS process. The influence of MF and HPPMS superimposed pulse
packages on the deposition rate during reactive sputtering of titanium in an
Ar/N2 atmosphere will be presented. Additionally the resulting TiN film
microstructure and phase/texture composition will be discussed with respect
to the corresponding plasma conditions.
4:50pm F2-2-11 Angle-resolved energy flux measurements of a
HIPIMS-powered rotating cylindrical magnetron in reactive and nonreactive
atmosphere., S. Konstantinidis
(stephanos.konstantinidis@umons.ac.be), University of Mons, Belgium, W.
Leroy, Ghent University, Belgium, R. Snyders, University of Mons,
Belgium, D. Depla, Ghent University, Belgium
Energy flux measurements were carried out using a passive thermal probe
during sputtering of titanium in a reactive Ar/O2 atmosphere with a rotating
cylindrical magnetron. The data were collected 90° around the cylindrical
magnetron cathode. The rectangular voltage pulses had a duration of either
5 or 20 µs and target voltage was set to 600V in order to reach a timeaveraged
power density over the racetrack of 30 W/cm². As a reference, the
energy flux was also measured during DC magnetron under the same
working conditions. The energy flux per adparticle was calculated by
measuring the deposition rate for all sputter modes and regimes. The lowest
deposition rate was measured during reactive HiPIMS, with 20µs-long
47 Tuesday Afternoon, April 24, 2012