Advanced Coatings through Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract

Pulsed magnetron sputtering (PMS) has become established as the process of choice for the deposition of dielectric materials for many applications. The process is attractive because it offers stable arc free operating conditions during the deposition of, for example, functional films on architectural and automotive glass, or antireflective/antistatic coatings on displays. Recent studies have shown that pulsing the magnetron discharge also leads to hotter and more energetic plasmas in comparison with continuous dc discharges, with increased ion energy fluxes delivered to the substrate. As such, the PMS process offers benefits in the deposition of a wide range of materials. The present paper describes three examples where PMS has led to either significant enhancement in film properties or enhanced process flexibility: in low friction titanium nitride coatings, in Al doped zinc oxide transparent conductive oxide coatings sputtered directly from powder targets and in thin film photovoltaic devices based on copper (indium/gallium) diselenide. These examples demonstrate the versatility of PMS and open up new opportunities for the production of advanced coatings using this technique.SE/499The authors are in the School of Computing Science and Engineering, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK (p.Kelly@salford.ac.uk). Based on a presentation at the meeting on 'Pulsed plasma processing' held at Salford

Pulsed DC titanium nitride coatings for improved tribological performance and tool life

“…Similar results have also been obtained for TiAlN coatings [5]. The improvement in tribological properties was attributed to structural modifications arising from the enhanced deposition conditions now known to occur in the PMS process [6][7][8].…”

“…Titanium nitride coatings were deposited by pulsed reactive unbalanced magnetron sputtering in a Teer Coatings Ltd. UDP350 rig [4][5][6]. For comparison purposes, coatings were also deposited by continuous DC reactive sputtering.…”

Influence of Titania Synthesized by Pulsed Laser Ablation on the State of Platinum during Ammonia Oxidation

“…The metal-support interaction is ensured by defects of the support surface. Therefore, the most suitable synthesis methods are those which use nonequilibrium processes to produce structures with high density of defects: burning a precursor solution (solution-combustion) [21,22], spraying in a flame (spray pyrolysis) [23,24], atomization in electric discharge [25,26] or laser evaporation [27][28][29]. Pulsed laser ablation (PLA) in liquid phase is a simple and environmentally friendly method for obtaining dispersions of particles with a high density of defects.…”

Enhanced Colouration Efficiency of Pulsed DC Magnetron Sputtered WO3 Films Cycled in H2SO4 Electrolyte Solution

“…However, during WO 3 film deposition by using DC magnetron sputtering an electrically insulating layer is built up on the surface of the target which leads to arcing due to charge accumulation. In this case, the WO 3 target is fused and only sputtered within a small region of the target surface; hence defects in the deposited layer are likely to be created [17]. This problem can be overcome by using pulsed DC sputtering since the accumulated charge of insulating layers is neutralized easily during the change in polarity of a pulse and thereby the reduction in the arcing event.…”

“…This problem can be overcome by using pulsed DC sputtering since the accumulated charge of insulating layers is neutralized easily during the change in polarity of a pulse and thereby the reduction in the arcing event. It consequently prevents deterioration of film properties and the deposition process also remains stable [17]. Thus, the defect-free WO 3 thin films with superior uniformity, quality, and specific microstructure can be deposited by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering.…”