Publication details
Time-resolved imaging of sputtered particles in multi-pulse HiPIMS discharge
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Ten years ago, an alternative high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) deposition technique known as modulated pulsed power (MPP) magnetron sputtering has been introduced by Chistyakov et al. In MPP a long pulse is divided into many sub-pulses, which vary from few to tens of microseconds. Operating the HiPIMS in similar mode is called multi-pulse HiPIMS (m-HiPIMS). In the pulse sequence a large quantity of thermalized sputtered atoms, which were not ionized during the preceding pulse, are available to be ionized during the subsequent pulse. It leads to significant enhancement of total ion flux to the substrate and deposition rate. Direct imaging of sputtered particles above the magnetron target is a straightforward way to obtain information about the number density of neutrals and ions, degree of ionization or time of ion arrival to the virtual substrate. This work is focused on the dynamics of the ground state Ti atoms and singly ionized ions. It is achieved by their visualization using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) imaging technique [4] combined with atomic absorption spectroscopy. In our study, the effects of the pulse duration, delay between the pulses and their number are examined. The effect of pulse number for better ionization control in the m-HiPIMS case is demonstrated. This phenomenon is related to the synchronization with both the wave of ions propagating from the cathode and following m-HiPIMS pulse (so-called ‘ion pumping’). Moreover, the influence of multi-pulse on the structure of the metallic titanium coating is studied. The results of this study can already be utilized to control the ionization degree in real processes involving HiPIMS discharges. |
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