The behaviour of arcs in carbon mixed-mode high-power impulse magnetron sputtering

Tucker, Mark; J., Putman, Kate; Ganesan, R.; Lattemann, Martina; Stueber, Michael; Ulrich, S.; Bilek, M.M.M.; McKenzie, David R.; Marks, Nigel A.

doi:10.1088/1361-6463/aa5bcf

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In both cases, an increase of the peak current at a constant discharge voltage was observed, in agreement with earlier reports [21]. The probability of arc ignition increased proportionally with the discharge current, as it was shown in [29], due to the creation of hot spots on the target that provided the seeds for arc formation. Therefore, a natural choice for reducing the number of arcs would be to maintain the same peak current as in the Ar process, while reducing the discharge voltage when the gas mixture is changed.…”

Section: Process Descriptionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The frequency of arcing depends on the target material quality and its surface state during sputtering [27] and also on the peak current used for sputtering [21,28]. A stable operating regime can be established in a so called "mixed mode" sputtering [28,29], where a transition to arc occurs towards the end of the pulse and provides potentially higher current intensities and ionisation degrees. This was shown to be useful for obtaining highly tetrahedral amorphous carbon films [19], and studied as a separate version of HiPIMS when dealing with carbon sputtering.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Strategy for Alleviating Micro Arcing during HiPIMS Deposition of DLC Coatings

et al. 2020

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In this work, we investigate the use of high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) for the deposition of micrometer thick diamond like carbon (DLC) coatings on Si and steel substrates. The adhesion on both types of substrates is ensured with a simple Ti interlayer, while the energy of impinging ions is adjusted by using RF (Radio Frequency) biasing on the substrate at −100 V DC self-bias. Addition of acetylene to the working Ar+Ne atmosphere is investigated as an alternative to Ar sputtering, to improve process stability and coatings quality. Peak current is maintained constant, providing reliable comparison between different deposition conditions used in this study. The main advantages of adding acetylene to the Ar+Ne gas mixture are an increase of deposition rate by a factor of 2, when comparing to the Ar+Ne process. Moreover, a decrease of the number of surface defects, from ~40% surface defects coverage to ~1% is obtained, due to reduced arcing. The mechanical and tribological properties of the deposited DLC films remain comparable for all investigated gas compositions. Nanoindentation hardness of all coatings is in the range of 25 to 30 GPa, friction coefficient is between 0.05 and 0.1 and wear rate is in the range of 0.47 to 0.77 × 10−6 mm3 N−1m−1.

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Section: Process Descriptionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Strategy for Alleviating Micro Arcing during HiPIMS Deposition of DLC Coatings

et al. 2020

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“…Recently, several approaches have been employed for increasing the carbon ionization in HiPIMS based discharges. These include an increase in carbon ionization via electron temperature enhancement by replacing Ar with Ne [11,12], sputter deposition of DLC films by triggering micro-arcs at the target surface to emulate cathodic arc-like deposition conditions [13,14] and use of short pulse on-times (<10 µs) together with high target voltages (>1 kV) to achieve large target current densities in an arc-free operation [15]. From these studies, correlation between discharge current density and carbon ionization as well as their dependence on the choice of control parameters is evident.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discharge runaway in high power impulse magnetron sputtering of carbon: the effect of gas pressure, composition and target peak voltage

Vițelaru¹,

Aijaz²,

Parau³

et al. 2018

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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Pressure and target voltage driven discharge runaway from low to high discharge current density regimes in high power impulse magnetron sputtering of carbon is investigated. The main purpose is to provide a meaningful insight of the discharge dynamics, with the ultimate goal to establish a correlation between discharge properties and process parameters to control the film growth. This is achieved by examining a wide range of pressures (2–20 mTorr) and target voltages (700–850 V) and measuring ion saturation current density at the substrate position. We show that the minimum plasma impedance is an important parameter identifying the discharge transition as well as establishing a stable operating condition. Using the formalism of generalized recycling model, we introduce a new parameter, ‘recycling ratio’, to quantify the process gas recycling for specific process conditions. The model takes into account the ion flux to the target, the amount of gas available, and the amount of gas required for sustaining the discharge. We show that this parameter describes the relation between the gas recycling and the discharge current density. As a test case, we discuss the pressure and voltage driven transitions by changing the gas composition when adding Ne into the discharge. We propose that standard Ar HiPIMS discharges operated with significant gas recycling do not require Ne to increase the carbon ionization.

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Auxiliary capacitor to enhance oscillation in circuit and reduce current onset delay in HiPIMS discharge: Theory, experiment and simulation

Han

Luo

et al. 2021

Surface and Coatings Technology

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The behaviour of arcs in carbon mixed-mode high-power impulse magnetron sputtering

Cited by 8 publications

References 25 publications

A Strategy for Alleviating Micro Arcing during HiPIMS Deposition of DLC Coatings

A Strategy for Alleviating Micro Arcing during HiPIMS Deposition of DLC Coatings

Discharge runaway in high power impulse magnetron sputtering of carbon: the effect of gas pressure, composition and target peak voltage

Auxiliary capacitor to enhance oscillation in circuit and reduce current onset delay in HiPIMS discharge: Theory, experiment and simulation

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