Influence of the discharge regime on Ti thin films growth and properties in dc, single pulsed and chopped high power impulse magnetron sputtering

High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) has been becoming an appealing deposition process for synthesis of high quality coatings over the last decade. It utilizes average power similar to the dc magnetron sputtering (DCMS) applied on magnetron target, which is however concentrated in short pulses. This ensures generation of dense plasmas with high fraction of ionized film forming species. Control over the energy and trajectory of ionized sputtered species can lead to the formation of coatings with improved properties. Despite of certain advantages the HiPIMS process has often a lower deposition rate compared to DCMS. This is one reason which hinders the HiPIMS process from further exploration in industrial applications. However more recently it has been shown that deposition rates of Ti thin films can be significantly increased by so called chopped-HiPIMS (c-HiPIMS) technique [1]. In this case a single HiPIMS pulse is decomposed into several individual pulses with microsecond pulse off-times. C-HiPIMS can be especially effective in suppression of thermal spikes on the target. The effect of thermal spikes is most pronounced during long single HiPIMS pulses. It negatively influences mobility of arriving ad-atoms leading to the formation of larger grains and rougher surface of Ti thin films [2]. In present work we compare the density, crystallinity, roughness, and microstructure of Ti thin films prepared by dc, single pulsed, and c-HiPIMS. Much attention has been paid on role of microsecond pulse off-times on Ti thin films properties. Plasma parameters have been measured to supplement our investigations.
References:
[1] P. M. Barker, E. Lewin, and J. Patscheider “Modified high power impulse magnetron sputtering process for increased deposition rate of titanium” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 31 (2013) 0606041
[2] F. J. Jing, T. L. Yin, K. Yukimura, H. Sun, Y. X. Leng, and N. Huang “Titanium film deposition by high-power impulse magnetron sputtering: Influence of pulse duration” Vacuum 86 (2012) 2114