Abstract
This article reports on the influence of the sputtering parameters (discharge voltage, average target power density) of a high power impulse magnetron discharge (HiPIMS) on the structure, mechanical and optical properties of silicon-rich Al–Si–N films. We show that with the change of a discharge target power density in the range of 30–120 W/cm2, the hardness of the sputtered Al–Si–N films nonlinearly changes in the range of 22–29 GPa, while the concentration of the absorption centers changes in the range of 1018–1020/cm3. The optical spectra of the HiPIMS sputtered films are completely different from the Al–Si–N films prepared by a direct current magnetron sputtering, with an absence of “monoenergetic” optical absorption centers, which are attributed to point defects.
Highlights
Aluminum–silicon nitride–based materials find a lot of applications in various fields such as electronics [1], optics [2], cutting tools [3], or light-emitting devises [4]
We investigate the influence of high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) parameters on the optical, mechanical and structural properties of the Al–Si–N
Line intensities exponentially increase with the increasing of the discharge voltage, especially for ionized atoms at the higher ion charge states (Al++ and Si++ ) with the change of a discharge voltage from 700 to 1000 V with the corresponding target power density change from 30 up to 120 W/cm2
Summary
Aluminum–silicon nitride–based materials find a lot of applications in various fields such as electronics [1], optics [2], cutting tools [3], or light-emitting devises [4]. The main advantage of this technique is the fact of an extreme plasma ionization degree [13] leading to high mean particle energies (tens of eV) [14], a high dissociation of a reactive gas [15] and dense, void-free microstructure of sputtered films [16]. These advantages allow for smooth and optimized control of the structure and morphology of Al–Si–N sputtered thin films [17]. We investigate the influence of HiPIMS parameters on the optical, mechanical and structural properties of the Al–Si–N system with a high silicon concentration
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