Observation of self-sputtering in energetic condensation of metal ions

Anders, André

doi:10.1063/1.1840115

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…One of the features of DC arc plasma is the relatively high number of neutral atoms, 1 likely originating from evaporation from previously active arc spots on the cathode surface, 31 evaporation from macro particles, 32 and resputtering from previously deposited layers. 33 Al has a higher vapor pressure and lower boiling temperature than Ti (Ref. 34) which may suggest a disproportion of the elemental ratio in the neutral vapor, also supported by previously shown resputtering being more pronounced for lighter elements.…”

Section: Effect Of Cathode Composition and Pressure On Ion Charge Statessupporting

confidence: 53%

Effect of N2 and Ar gas on DC arc plasma generation and film composition from Ti-Al compound cathodes

Zhirkov

Окс

Rosén

2015

Journal of Applied Physics

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Articles you may be interested inEffect of Ti-Al cathode composition on plasma generation and plasma transport in direct current vacuum arc J. Appl. Phys. 115, 123301 (2014); 10.1063/1.4869199Ion velocities in direct current arc plasma generated from compound cathodes J. Appl. Phys. 114, 213302 (2013) DC arc plasma from Ti, Al, and Ti 1Àx Al x (x ¼ 0.16, 0.25, 0.50, and 0.70) compound cathodes has been characterized with respect to plasma chemistry (charged particles) and charge-stateresolved ion energy for Ar and N 2 pressures in the range 10 À6 to 3 Â 10 À2 Torr. Scanning electron microscopy was used for exploring the correlation between the cathode and film composition, which in turn was correlated with the plasma properties. In an Ar atmosphere, the plasma ion composition showed a reduction of Al of approximately 5 at. % compared to the cathode composition, while deposited films were in accordance with the cathode stoichiometry. Introducing N 2 above $5 Â 10 À3 Torr, lead to a reduced Al content in the plasma as well as in the film, and hence a 1:1 correlation between the cathode and film composition cannot be expected in a reactive environment. This may be explained by an influence of the reactive gas on the arc mode and type of erosion of Ti and Al rich contaminations, as well as on the plasma transport. Throughout the investigated pressure range, a higher deposition rate was obtained from cathodes with higher Al content. The origin of generated gas ions was investigated through the velocity rule, stating that the most likely ion velocities of all cathode elements from a compound cathode are equal. The results suggest that the major part of the gas ions in Ar is generated from electron impact ionization, while gas ions in a N 2 atmosphere primarily originate from a nitrogen contaminated layer on the cathode surface. The presented results provide a contribution to the understanding processes of plasma generation from compound cathodes. It also allows for a more reasonable approach to the selection of composite cathode and experimental conditions for thin film depositions. V C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

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Section: Effect Of Cathode Composition and Pressure On Ion Charge Statessupporting

confidence: 53%

Effect of N2 and Ar gas on DC arc plasma generation and film composition from Ti-Al compound cathodes

Zhirkov

Окс

Rosén

2015

Journal of Applied Physics

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“…The present study was conducted with dc-arc, but the ion charge states are assumed to follow a similar trend as previously reported [1]. Arc plasmas have been shown to exhibit significant self sputtering at substrate bias less than -50 V, as well as in absence of a bias [24]. Hence, this is also expected under the conditions used in our study.…”

Section: Ion Surface Interaction and Preferential Resputteringsupporting

confidence: 51%

Layer formation by resputtering in Ti–Si–C hard coatings during large scale cathodic arc deposition

Eriksson

Zhu

Ghafoor

et al. 2011

Surface and Coatings Technology

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This paper presents the physical mechanism behind the phenomenon of self-layering in thin films made by industrial scale cathodic arc deposition systems using compound Ti-Si-C cathodes and rotating substrate fixture. For the as-deposited films, electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry reveals a trapezoid modulation in Si content in the substrate normal direction, with a period of 4 to 23 nm dependent on cathode configuration. This is caused by preferential resputtering of Si by the energetic deposition flux incident at high incidence angles, when the substrates are facing away from the cathodes. The Ti-rich sub-layers exhibit TiC grains with sizes up to 5 nm, while layers with high Si-content are less crystalline. The nanoindentation hardness of the films increases with decreasing layer thickness.

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“…6 The difference in distribution widths may be explained by charge transfer, even at base pressure: Recent findings indicate that neutrals are present in cathodic arc plasmas, the main source being limited sticking and self-sputtering that occurs when energetic ions condense on substrates and chamber walls, especially at oblique incident angles. 27 Collisions of ions with these metal neutrals will, in addition to a possible reduction in energy from elastic impacts, cause some of the higher charged ions to cascade down to lower charge states, most observable from a change in IED for Al 3+ . From an energy-dependent cross section for charge transfer 23 one would expect an IED with a high energy tail, and a decreased maximum intensity of the distribution.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of argon and oxygen on charge-state-resolved ion energy distributions of filtered aluminum arcs

Rosén

Anders

Mráz

et al. 2006

Journal of Applied Physics

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The charge-state-resolved ion energy distributions (IEDs) in filtered aluminum vacuum arc plasmas were measured and analyzed at different oxygen and argon pressures in the range 0.5 -8.0 mTorr. A significant reduction of the ion energy was detected as the pressure was increased, most pronounced in an argon environment and for the higher charge states. The corresponding average charge state decreased from 1.87 to 1.0 with increasing pressure. The IEDs of all metal ions in oxygen were fitted with shifted Maxwellian distributions. The results show that it is possible to obtain a plasma composition with a narrow chargestate distribution as well as a narrow IED. These data may enable tailoring thin-1 film properties through selecting growth conditions that are characterized by predefined charge state and energy distributions.2

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Observation of self-sputtering in energetic condensation of metal ions

Cited by 29 publications

References 16 publications

Effect of N2 and Ar gas on DC arc plasma generation and film composition from Ti-Al compound cathodes

Effect of N2 and Ar gas on DC arc plasma generation and film composition from Ti-Al compound cathodes

Layer formation by resputtering in Ti–Si–C hard coatings during large scale cathodic arc deposition

Influence of argon and oxygen on charge-state-resolved ion energy distributions of filtered aluminum arcs

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