Abstract
High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is well known in modern physical vapor deposition (PVD) owing to its high peak power density, high degree of ionization, high plasma density and hence high ion flux towards the substrate that allows ones to deposit high quality thin films in comparison with conventional magnetron sputtering technology. The present short review on HiPIMS intends to provide readers with a summary of the current status of this emerging PVD technique: the developmental history, the plasma characterization, and the applications in hardness and functional thin film fabrications. Several items on the distinctive feature of HiPIMS, including self-sputtering mechanism, low deposition rate, arcing phenomenon and key factors of deposition process are reviewed in detail. To limit the scope, the emphasis is put on thermo-chromic VO2 thin film deposited by HiPIMS. Based on this typical issue, some classical ideas and approaches on fabrication of the functional thin films through HiPIMS technique are demonstrated.
Highlights
It refers to self-sputtering of the target by returned ions of a target material, as shown on Fig. 1.15 This mechanism is completely different from the conventional magnetron sputtering, in which the sputtering ions are gas ions, generally Ar ions, and the sputtered species are mainly consist of neutral atoms
Some interesting developments have been achieved, the research on High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) technique is still at its early stage compared to the classical magnetron sputtering technique
Self-sputtering is a basic characterization of HiPIMS for high sputter yield materials, such as copper, silver and zinc, which can maintain selfsputtering in a sustained gasless mode
Summary
High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is a plasma-based modern physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique characterized by a very high peak power density (>1 kW/cm2) at the sputtering target and a high plasma density (>1019 m3) in front of the target with very short variable pulse durations (50∼200 μs). With the feature of a higher ionization rate (some elements up to 90 %) and a lower temperature deposition process, HiPIMS has broadened the application areas of magnetron sputtering (MS) for growing high-quality thin films with denser structure, smoother morphology, higher hardness and better adhesion properties compared to that by conventional magnetron sputtering, and has attracted considerable research attention from industry because of its potential applications in wear resistance or photoelectric coatings. A large amount of functional thin films has been deposited via HiPIMS, e.g. diamond-like carbon (DLC), TiOx, ZrO210 and CuxO.. International conferences on HiPIMS topic has been held every year since 2010 alternatively in UK and Germany. All of these indicate that the development of HiPIMS technique has already led to numerous interesting in fabricating high quality thin films. It seemly demands a detail review to summarize the achievement and direct the future perspective on the HiPIMS technique used in the thin films fabrication. Scitation.org/journal/adv film deposition, some classical ideas and approaches on fabricating functional thin films through HiPIMS technique are demonstrated. The future perspectives of this promising HiPIMS technique in some areas are indicated
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