Towards energy-efficient physical vapor deposition: Mapping out the effects of W+ energy and concentration on the densification of TiAlWN thin films grown with no external heating

SURFACE & COATINGS TECHNOLOGY

卷:424

Article

Li, X.¹  Bakhit, B.¹  Joesaar, M. P. Johansson²  Petrov, I^1,3,4,5  Hultman, L.¹  Greczynski, G.¹ 

[1] Linkoping Univ, Dept Phys IFM, Thin Film Phys Div, SE-58183 Linkoping, Sweden

[2] SECO Tools AB, SE-73782 Fagersta, Sweden

[3] Univ Illinois, Phys, Dept Mat Sci, Urbana, IL 61801 USA

[4] Univ Illinois, Frederick Seitz Mat Res Lab, Urbana, IL 61801 USA

[5] Natl Taiwan Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Mat Sci & Engn, Taipei 10607, Taiwan

关键词: Thin films;    TiAlN;    Magnetron sputtering;    HiPIMS;    Low temperature;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.surfcoat.2021.127639

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Hybrid high power impulse/direct current magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS/DCMS) film growth technique with metal-ion-synchronized substrate bias allows for significant energy savings as compared to conventional PVD methods. For carefully selected type of metal ion irradiation, taking into account ion mass, ionization potential, and reactivity towards working gas, fully dense and hard films can be obtained with no intentional substrate heating. The thermally-driven adatom mobility, which is an essential densification mechanism in conventional film growth that takes place at elevated temperatures, is replaced with that supplied by effective low-energy recoil creation. In this contribution we explore effects of the high-mass W+ irradiation, which has proven to be the most efficient in densifying Ti0.50Al0.50N layers, serving here as a model system, grown with no substrate heating. We study the effects of two essential parameters: W+ energy EW+ and W concentration x, on film porosity, phase content, nanostructure, and mechanical properties. EW+ varies from similar to 90 to similar to 630 eV (controlled by substrate bias voltage amplitude V-s) and x from 0.02 to 0.12 (controlled by the HiPIMS pulse length), while the HiPIMS peak target current is kept constant. Results reveal that a strong coupling exists between the W+ incident energy and the minimum W concentration required to grow dense layers.

【 授权许可】

Free