The sputtering of titanium magnetron target with increased temperature in reactive atmosphere by gas injection magnetron sputtering technique

Abstract

This paper presents a Gas Injection Magnetron Sputtering technique as a target temperature-controlling method. This technique is based on the generation of discrete plasmoids by injecting gas into the inter-electrode region. It provides control over the target temperature with limited heat dissipation by using various frequencies of plasma pulse generation. TiN and TiO2 coatings were selected as test materials for the study. Reactive sputtering processes with limited capability to cool the titanium target were carried out by generating a series of 500-ms plasma pulses at frequencies ranging from 0.5 to 1 Hz. The process variants allowed to achieve target temperatures ranging from 720 to 1210 °C. The results of structural, chemical and phase composition studies showed that the temperature of the target sputtering process did not influence the coatings' chemical and phase state. We have observed slight differences in the structure of TiO2 with the temperature since it is a material with a lower melting temperature than TiN. The differences in the thickness of fabricated coatings have been determined. In all the hot sputtering process cases, the deposited layers’ thickness was increased compared to the cold process. The growth kinetics normalized to the power effectivity decreases with the temperature due to the poisoning of the target material.