Microstructure control of CrNx films during high power impulse magnetron sputtering

Greczyński, Grzegorz; Jensen, Jens; Böhlmark, Johan; Hultman, Lars

doi:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2010.06.016

Cited by 86 publications

(57 citation statements)

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“…Second, the authors in [19] did not observe any change in surface roughness as the film morphology evolved from columnar to featureless upon increase of the amplitude of the peak target current. This remains in contrast to our findings [44] where columnar films were characterized by average surface roughness which is an order of magnitude higher. Moreover, it is not clear whether the effect reported in [19] was exclusively due to the increase of peak target current as the pulsing frequency was varied simultaneously.…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…5(b)], corresponding to 5 at% nitrogen in the film, the columnar growth is completely suppressed, and the film is composed of nanosized grains. The film is characterized by an extremely low surface roughness that hardly gives any contrast in the SEM (the average surface roughness R a deduced from the atomic force microscopy investigations is 0.25 nm [44]). This effect is also observed for films grown at f N 2 /Ar = 0.1 (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The phase identification was performed by means of the tilt-angle-dependent XRD analysis [44]. In order to facilitate comparison between the two sputtering methods, the XRD data shown in Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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$\hbox{CrN}_{\rm x}$ Films Prepared by DC Magnetron Sputtering and High-Power Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering: A Comparative Study

Greczyński

Jensen

Hultman

2010

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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Abstract-CrN x (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.91) films synthesized using highpower pulsed magnetron sputtering, also known as high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), have been compared with those made by conventional direct-current (dc) magnetron sputtering (DCMS) operated at the same average power. The HiPIMS deposition rate relative to the DCMS rate was found to decrease linearly with increasing emission strength from the Cr ions relative to Cr neutrals, in agreement with the predictions of the target-pathway model. The low deposition rate in HiPIMS is thus a direct consequence of the high ionization level (∼56%) of the target material and effective capturing of Cr ions by the cathode potential. Although the HiPIMS deposition rate did not exceed 40% of the DCMS rate, the drop in the relative deposition rate upon increasing the N 2 -to-Ar flow ratio, f N 2 /Ar , was found to be similar for both sputtering techniques. Films prepared by HiPIMS contained similar amounts of atomic nitrogen as the dc-sputtered samples grown at the same f N 2 /Ar , indicating that the nitride formation at the substrate takes place mostly during the time period of the high-power pulses, and the N 2 uptake between the pulses is negligible. The microstructure evolution in the two types of CrN x films, however, differed clearly from each other. A combination of a high substrate bias and a high flux of doubly charged Cr ions present during the HiPIMS discharge led to a disruption of the grain growth and renucleation, which resulted in column-free films with nanosized grains not observed in the conventional DCMS-based process. The comparison of nanoindentation hardness as a function of f N 2 /Ar revealed superior properties of HiPIMS-sputtered films in the entire range of gas compositions.Index Terms-CrN, high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering, magnetron sputtering.

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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$\hbox{CrN}_{\rm x}$ Films Prepared by DC Magnetron Sputtering and High-Power Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering: A Comparative Study

Greczyński

Jensen

Hultman

2010

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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“…31,91,119 Growth of films using HiPIMS is characterized by high ionic fluxes to the substrate (up to several hundreds of milliamperes per square centimeter) of relatively low energies (several tens of electronvolts), as was discussed in Section II B. These growth conditions trigger and/or enhance surface diffusion leading to film densification 31,123 as shown in Fig. 10(b).…”

Section: B Phase Composition Tailoring By Hipimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An introduction to thin film processing using high-power impulse magnetron sputtering

2012

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High-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is a promising sputtering-based ionized physical vapor deposition technique and is already making its way to industrial applications. The major difference between HiPIMS and conventional magnetron sputtering processes is the mode of operation. In HiPIMS the power is applied to the magnetron (target) in unipolar pulses at a low duty factor (andlt;10%) and low frequency (andlt;10 kHz) leading to peak target power densities of the order of several kilowatts per square centimeter while keeping the average target power density low enough to avoid magnetron overheating and target melting. These conditions result in the generation of a highly dense plasma discharge, where a large fraction of the sputtered material is ionized and thereby providing new and added means for the synthesis of tailor-made thin films. In this review, the features distinguishing HiPIMS from other deposition methods will be addressed in detail along with how they influence the deposition conditions, such as the plasma parameters and the sputtered material, as well as the resulting thin film properties, such as microstructure, phase formation, and chemical composition. General trends will be established in conjunction to industrially relevant material systems to present this emerging technology to the interested reader.Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR)|623-2009-7348

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“…6,7 Film stress increases rapidly as the average metal-ion momentum per deposited atom 〈 〉 transferred to the film surface exceeds a critical value 〈 〉*, which depends upon the choice of materials system and the ion flux incident at the growth surface. 8 〈 〉 is defined as 2 ( − "# ) × &' / ( in which "# is the plasma potential, mi and ni are the ion mass and average charge state, and &' / ( is the ratio of incident metal-ion to total metal (ion plus atom) fluxes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategy for tuning the average charge state of metal ions incident at the growing film during HIPIMS deposition

Greczyński

Petrov

Greene

et al. 2015

Vacuum

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Energy-and time-dependent mass spectrometry is used to determine the relative number density of singly-and multiply-charged metal-ion fluxes incident at the substrate during highpower pulsed magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) as a function of the average noble-gas ionization potential. Ti is selected as the sputtering target since the microstructure, phase composition, properties, and stress-state of Ti-based ceramic thin films grown by HIPIMS are known to be strongly dependent on the charge state of Ti n+ (n = 1, 2, …) ions incident at the film growth surface.We find that the flux of Ti n+ with n > 2 is insignificant; thus, we measure the Ti 2+ /Ti + integrated flux ratio / at the substrate position as a function of the choice of noble gas --Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, as well as Ne/Ar, Kr/Ar, and Xe/Ar mixtures --supporting the plasma. We demonstrate that by changing noble-gas mixtures, varies by more than two orders of magnitude with only a small change in . This allows the ratio / to be continuously tuned from less than 0.01 with Xe, which has a low first-ionization potential , to 0.62 with Ne which has a high . The value for Xe, = 12.16 eV, is larger than the first ionization potential of Ti, = 6.85 eV, but less than the second Ti ionization potential, = 13.62 eV. For Ne, however, = 21.63 eV is greater than both and . Therefore, the high-energy tail of the plasma-electron energy distribution can be systematically adjusted, allowing / to be controllably varied over a very wide range.corresponding author: grzgr@ifm.liu.se; phone: +46 13 28 1213

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Microstructure control of CrNx films during high power impulse magnetron sputtering

Cited by 86 publications

References 36 publications

$\hbox{CrN}_{\rm x}$ Films Prepared by DC Magnetron Sputtering and High-Power Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering: A Comparative Study

$\hbox{CrN}_{\rm x}$ Films Prepared by DC Magnetron Sputtering and High-Power Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering: A Comparative Study

An introduction to thin film processing using high-power impulse magnetron sputtering

Strategy for tuning the average charge state of metal ions incident at the growing film during HIPIMS deposition

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