| 1. |
- Brenning, Nils, et al.
(författare)
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HiPIMS optimization by using mixed high-power and low-power pulsing
- 2021
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Ingår i: Plasma sources science & technology. - : IOP Publishing. - 0963-0252 .- 1361-6595. ; 30:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The possibility to optimize a high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) discharge through mixing two different power levels in the pulse pattern is investigated. Standard HiPIMS pulses are used to create the ions of the film-forming material. After each HiPIMS pulse an off-time follows, during which no voltage (or, optionally, a reversed voltage) is applied, letting the remaining ions in the magnetic trap escape towards the substrate. After these off-times, a long second pulse with lower amplitude, in the dc magnetron sputtering range, is applied. During this pulse, which is continued up to the following HiPIMS pulse, mainly neutrals of the film-forming material are produced. This pulse pattern makes it possible to achieve separate optimization of the ion production, and of the neutral atom production, that constitute the film-forming flux to the substrate. The optimization process is thereby separated into two sub-problems. The first sub-problem concerns minimizing the energy cost for ion production, and the second sub-problem deals with how to best split a given allowed discharge power between ion production and neutral production. The optimum power split is decided by the lowest ionized flux fraction that gives the desired film properties for a specific application. For the first sub-problem we describe a method where optimization is achieved by the selection of five process parameters: the HiPIMS pulse amplitude, the HiPIMS pulse length, the off-time, the working gas pressure, and the magnetic field strength. For the second sub-problem, the splitting of power between ion and neutral production, optimization is achieved by the selection of the values of two remaining process parameters, the HiPIMS pulse repetition frequency and the discharge voltage of the low-power pulse.
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| 2. |
- Brenning, Nils, et al.
(författare)
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Optimization of HiPIMS discharges : The selection of pulse power, pulse length, gas pressure, and magnetic field strength
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. A. Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films. - : American Vacuum Society. - 0734-2101 .- 1520-8559. ; 38:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) operation, there are basically two goals: a high ionized flux fraction of the sputtered target material and a high deposition rate. In this work, it is demonstrated that the former always comes at the cost of the latter. This makes a choice necessary, referred to as the HiPIMS compromise. It is here proposed that this compromise is most easily made by varying the discharge current amplitude, which opens up for optimization of additionally four external process parameters: the pulse length, the working gas pressure, the magnetic field strength, and the degree of magnetic unbalance to achieve the optimum combination of the ionized flux fraction and the deposition rate. As a figure of merit, useful for comparing different discharges, ( 1 - beta t ) is identified, which is the fraction of ionized sputtered material that escapes back-attraction toward the cathode target. It is shown that a discharge with a higher value of ( 1 - beta t ) always can be arranged to give better combinations of ionization and deposition rate than a discharge with a lower ( 1 - beta t ). Maximization of ( 1 - beta t ) is carried out empirically, based on data from two discharges with Ti targets in Ar working gas. These discharges were first modeled in order to convert measured plasma parameters to values of ( 1 - beta t ). The combined effects of varying the different process parameters were then analyzed using a process flow chart model. The effect of varying the degree of unbalance in the studied range was small. For the remaining three parameters, it is found that optimum is achieved by minimizing the magnetic field strength, minimizing the working gas pressure, and minimizing the pulse length as far as compatible with the requirement to ignite and maintain a stable discharge.
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| 3. |
- Hajihoseini, Hamidreza, et al.
(författare)
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Oblique angle deposition of nickel thin films by high-power impulse magnetron sputtering
- 2019
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Ingår i: Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology. - : BEILSTEIN-INSTITUT. - 2190-4286. ; 10, s. 1914-1921
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Oblique angle deposition is known for yielding the growth of columnar grains that are tilted in the direction of the deposition flux. Using this technique combined with high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) can induce unique properties in ferromagnetic thin films. Earlier we have explored the properties of polycrystalline and epitaxially deposited permalloy thin films deposited under 35 degrees tilt using HiPIMS and compared it with films deposited by de magnetron sputtering (dcMS). The films prepared by HiPIMS present lower anisotropy and coercivity fields than films deposited with dcMS. For the epitaxial films dcMS deposition gives biaxial anisotropy while HiPIMS deposition gives a well-defined uniaxial anisotropy. Results: We report on the deposition of 50 nm polycrystalline nickel thin films by dcMS and HiPIMS while the tilt angle with respect to the substrate normal is varied from 0 degrees to 70 degrees. The HiPIMS-deposited films are always denser, with a smoother surface and are magnetically softer than the dcMS-deposited films under the same deposition conditions. The obliquely deposited HiPIMS films are significantly more uniform in terms of thickness. Cross-sectional SEM images reveal that the dcMS-deposited film under 70 degrees tilt angle consists of well-defined inclined nanocolumnar grains while grains of HiPIMS-deposited films are smaller and less tilted. Both deposition methods result in in-plane isotropic magnetic behavior at small tilt angles while larger tilt angles result in uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. The transition tilt angle varies with deposition method and is measured around 35 degrees for dcMS and 60 degrees for HiPIMS. Conclusion: Due to the high discharge current and high ionized flux fraction, the HiPIMS process can suppress the inclined columnar growth induced by oblique angle deposition. Thus, the ferromagnetic thin films obliquely deposited by HiPIMS deposition exhibit different magnetic properties than dcMS-deposited films. The results demonstrate the potential of the HiPIMS process to tailor the material properties for some important technological applications in addition to the ability to fill high aspect ratio trenches and coating on cutting tools with complex geometries.
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| 4. |
- Hajihoseini, Hamidreza, et al.
(författare)
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Sideways deposition rate and ionized flux fraction in dc and high power impulse magnetron sputtering
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. A. Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films. - : American Vacuum Society. - 0734-2101 .- 1520-8559. ; 38:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The sideways (radial) deposition rate and ionized flux fraction in a high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) discharge are studied and compared to a dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS) discharge, while the magnetic field strength | B | and degree of balancing are varied. A significant deposition of the film forming material perpendicular to the target surface is observed for both sputter techniques. This sideways deposition decreases with increasing axial distance from the target surface. The sideways deposition rate is always the highest in dc operation, while it is lower for HiPIMS operation. The magnetic field strength has a strong influence on the sideways deposition rate in HiPIMS but not in dcMS. Furthermore, in HiPIMS operation, the radial ion deposition rate is always at least as large as the axial ion deposition rate and often around two times higher. Thus, there are a significantly higher number of ions traveling radially in the HiPIMS discharge. A comparison of the total radial as well as axial fluxes across the entire investigated plasma volume between the target and the substrate position allows for revised estimates of radial over axial flux fractions for different magnetic field configurations. It is here found that the relative radial flux of the film forming material is greater in dcMS compared to HiPIMS for almost all cases investigated. It is therefore concluded that the commonly reported reduction of the (axial) deposition rate in HiPIMS compared to dcMS does not seem to be linked with an increase in sideways material transport in HiPIMS.
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| 5. |
- Hajihoseini, Hamidreza, et al.
(författare)
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The Effect of Magnetic Field Strength and Geometry on the Deposition Rate and Ionized Flux Fraction in the HiPIMS Discharge
- 2019
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Ingår i: Plasma. - : MDPI AG. - 2571-6182. ; 2:2, s. 201-221
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We explored the effect of magnetic field strength (Formula presented.) and geometry (degree of balancing) on the deposition rate and ionized flux fraction (Formula presented.) in dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS) and high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) when depositing titanium. The HiPIMS discharge was run in two different operating modes. The first one we refer to as “fixed voltage mode” where the cathode voltage was kept fixed at 625 V while the pulse repetition frequency was varied to achieve the desired time average power (300 W). The second mode we refer to as “fixed peak current mode” and was carried out by adjusting the cathode voltage to maintain a fixed peak discharge current and by varying the frequency to achieve the same average power. Our results show that the dcMS deposition rate was weakly sensitive to variations in the magnetic field while the deposition rate during HiPIMS operated in fixed voltage mode changed from 30% to 90% of the dcMS deposition rate as (Formula presented.) decreased. In contrast, when operating the HiPIMS discharge in fixed peak current mode, the deposition rate increased only slightly with decreasing (Formula presented.). In fixed voltage mode, for weaker (Formula presented.), the higher was the deposition rate, the lower was the (Formula presented.). In the fixed peak current mode, both deposition rate and (Formula presented.) increased with decreasing (Formula presented.). Deposition rate uniformity measurements illustrated that the dcMS deposition uniformity was rather insensitive to changes in (Formula presented.) while both HiPIMS operating modes were highly sensitive. The HiPIMS deposition rate uniformity could be 10% lower or up to 10% higher than the dcMS deposition rate uniformity depending on (Formula presented.) and in particular the magnetic field topology. We related the measured quantities, the deposition rate and ionized flux fraction, to the ionization probability (Formula presented.) and the back attraction probability of the sputtered species (Formula presented.). We showed that the fraction of the ions of the sputtered material that escape back attraction increased by 30% when (Formula presented.) was reduced during operation in fixed peak current mode while the ionization probability of the sputtered species increased with increasing (Formula presented.), due to increased discharge current, when operating in fixed voltage mode.
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| 6. |
- Hajihoseini, Hamidreza, et al.
(författare)
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Vanadium and vanadium nitride thin films grown by high power impulse magnetron sputtering
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Physics D. - : Institute of Physics (IOP). - 0022-3727 .- 1361-6463. ; 50:50
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Thin vanadium and vanadium nitride films were grown on SiO2 by non-reactive and reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), respectively. The film properties were compared to films grown by conventional dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS) at similar conditions. We explored the influence of the stationary magnetic confinement field strength on the film properties and the process parameters. The deposition rate is much lower for non-reactive sputtering by HiPIMS than for dcMS. Furthermore, for both dcMS and HiPIMS the deposition rate is lower for strong magnetic confinement. Structural characterization was carried out using x-ray diffraction and reflection methods as well as atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscope. Both dcMS and HiPIMS grown vanadium films are polycrystalline with similar grain size regardless of magnetic field strength. For dcMS grown vanadium films the surface roughness is higher when a strong magnetic field is used. For both non-reactive growth of vanadium and reactive growth of vanadium nitride the HiPIMS process produces denser films with lower surface roughness than dcMS does. Lowering the magnetic field strength increases the deposition rate significantly for reactive HiPIMS while it increases only slightly in the reactive dcMS case. The films grown by HiPIMS with strong magnetic confinement exhibit higher density and lower roughness. We find that the operating pressure, growth temperature, discharge voltage and film thickness has influence on the properties of HiPIMS grown vanadium nitride films. The films are denser when grown at high temperature, high discharge voltage and low pressure. The density of those films is lower for thicker films and thicker films consist of larger grain size. For all the films explored, higher density coincides with lower surface roughness. Thus, the deposition method, magnetic field strength, growth temperature, discharge voltage, film thickness and growth pressure have a significant influence on the film quality and structural properties, including the grain size for the various orientations.
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| 7. |
- Kateb, Movaffaq, et al.
(författare)
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Comparison of magnetic and structural properties of permalloy Ni80Fe20 grown by dc and high power impulse magnetron sputtering
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Physics D. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 0022-3727 .- 1361-6463. ; 51:28
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We study the microstructure and magnetic properties of Ni80Fe20 thin films grown by high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), and compare with films grown by dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS). The films were grown under a tilt angle of 35 degrees to identical thickness of 37 nm using both techniques, at different pressure (0.13-0.73 Pa) and substrate temperature (room temperature and 100 degrees C). All of our films display effective in-plane uniaxial anisotropy with square easy axis and linear hard axis magnetization traces. X-ray diffraction reveals that there is very little change in grain size within the pressure and temperature ranges explored. However, variations in film density, obtained by x-ray reflectivity measurements, with pressure have a significant effect on magnetic properties such as anisotropy field (H-k) and coercivity (H-c). Depositions where adatom energy is high produce dense films, while low adatom energy results in void-rich films with higher H-k and H-c. The latter applies to our dcMS deposited films at room temperature and high pressure. However, the HiPIMS deposition method gives higher adatom energy than the dcMS and results in dense films with low H-k and H-c. The surface roughness is found to increase with increased pressure, in all cases, however it showed negligible contribution to the increase in H-k, and H-c.
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| 8. |
- Kateb, Movaffaq, et al.
(författare)
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Role of ionization fraction on the surface roughness, density, and interface mixing of the films deposited by thermal evaporation, dc magnetron sputtering, and HiPIMS : An atomistic simulation
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. A. Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films. - : AVS Science and Technology Society. - 0734-2101 .- 1520-8559. ; 37:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The effect of ionization fraction on the epitaxial growth of Cu film on Cu (111) substrate at room temperature is explored. Three deposition methods, thermal evaporation, dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS), and high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) are compared. Three deposition conditions, i.e., fully neutral, 50% ionized, and 100% ionized flux were considered thermal evaporation, dcMS, and HiPIMS, respectively, for similar to 20 000 adatoms. It is shown that higher ionization fraction of the deposition flux leads to smoother surfaces by two major mechanisms, i.e., decreasing clustering in the vapor phase and bicollision of high energy ions at the film surface. The bicollision event consists of local amorphization which fills the gaps between islands followed by crystallization due to secondary collisions. The bicollision events are found to be very important to prevent island growth to become dominant and increase the surface roughness. Regardless of the deposition method, epitaxial Cu thin films suffer from stacking fault areas (twin boundaries) in agreement with recent experimental results. Thermal evaporation and dcMS deposition present negligible interface mixing while HiPIMS deposition presents considerable interface mixing. Published by the AVS.
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| 9. |
- Rudolph, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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On how to measure the probabilities of target atom ionization and target ion back-attraction in high-power impulse magnetron sputtering
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Physics. - : AIP Publishing. - 0021-8979 .- 1089-7550. ; 129:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is an ionized physical vapor deposition technique that provides a high flux of ionized target species for thin film growth. Optimization of HiPIMS processes is, however, often difficult, since the influence of external process parameters, such as working gas pressure, magnetic field strength, and pulse configuration, on the deposition process characteristics is not well understood. The reason is that these external parameters are only indirectly connected to the two key flux parameters, the deposition rate and ionized flux fraction, via two internal discharge parameters: the target atom ionization probability alpha (t) and the target ion back-attraction probability beta (t). Until now, it has been difficult to assess alpha (t) and beta (t) without resorting to computational modeling, which has hampered knowledge-based optimization. Here, we present a simple method to deduce alpha (t) and beta (t) based on measured deposition rates of neutrals and ions. The core of the method is a refined analytical model, which is described in detail. This approach is furthermore validated by independent calculations of alpha (t) and beta (t) using the considerably more complex ionization region model, which is a plasma-chemical global discharge model.
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| 10. |
- Rudolph, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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On the electron energy distribution function in the high power impulse magnetron sputtering discharge
- 2021
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Ingår i: Plasma sources science & technology. - : IOP Publishing. - 0963-0252 .- 1361-6595. ; 30:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We apply the ionization region model (IRM) and the Orsay Boltzmann equation for electrons coupled with ionization and excited states kinetics (OBELIX) model to study the electron kinetics of a high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) discharge. In the IRM the bulk (cold) electrons are assumed to exhibit a Maxwellian energy distribution and the secondary (hot) electrons, emitted from the target surface upon ion bombardment, are treated as a high energy tail, while in the OBELIX the electron energy distribution is calculated self-consistently using an isotropic Boltzmann equation. The two models are merged in the sense that the output from the IRM is used as an input for OBELIX. The temporal evolutions of the particle densities are found to agree very well between the two models. Furthermore, a very good agreement is demonstrated between the bi-Maxwellian electron energy distribution assumed by the IRM and the electron energy distribution calculated by the OBELIX model. It can therefore be concluded that assuming a bi-Maxwellian electron energy distribution, constituting a cold bulk electron group and a hot secondary electron group, is a good approximation for modeling the HiPIMS discharge.
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| 11. |
- Rudolph, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Optimizing the deposition rate and ionized flux fraction by tuning the pulse length in high power impulse magnetron sputtering
- 2020
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Ingår i: Plasma sources science & technology. - : Institute of Physics (IOP). - 0963-0252 .- 1361-6595. ; 29:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is an ionized physical vapour deposition technique. While HiPIMS provides a high flux of metal ions to the substrate, the disadvantage is a reduced deposition rate compared to direct current magnetron sputtering (dcMS) at equal average power. This is mainly due to the high target back-attraction probability of the metal ions with typical values in the range 70%-90% during the pulse. In this work, we investigate how to reduce this effect by quantifying the contribution of the metal ion flux after each HiPIMS pulse, a period also known as afterglow. Without a negative potential on the target at this stage of the HiPIMS process, the back-attracting electric field disappears allowing remaining ions to escape the ionization region. In order to analyze the fate of the film-forming ions, we extend the time-dependent ionization region model (IRM) by adding consideration of an afterglow. This approach allows to distinguish between fluxes from the ionization region during the pulse and during the afterglow. We show that by shortening the pulse length of a titanium HiPIMS discharge, the contribution to the outward flux of film-forming species from the afterglow increases significantly. The IRM predicts a gain in deposition rate of 46% and 47% for two discharges with different peak discharge currents, when using 40 mu s compared to 100 mu s-long pulses at the same average power. This is without compromising the ionized flux fraction that remains constant for the range of pulse lengths investigated here.
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