dcMS Deposition Research Articles

Tailoring interface alloying and magnetic properties in (111) Permalloy/Pt multilayers

We demonstrate preparation and characterization of permalloy Ni80Fe20 at.% (Py) multilayers in which the Py layers were deposited by two different sputter deposition methods. Namely, dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS) and high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), that represent low and moderate ionized flux fraction of the film forming material, respectively. We deposited ultrathin bilayers, i.e. 15 Å thick Py and 5 Å thick Pt, with 20 repetitions. Various effects such as substrate roughness, working gas pressure and sputter power are considered. The microstructure, texture and strain were characterized by X-ray diffraction, individual thicknesses and alloying were analysed by X-ray reflectivity, and uniaxial in-plane anisotropy probed by the magneto-optical Kerr effect. It is shown that HiPIMS deposition produces multilayers with reduced surface roughness regardless of the substrate surface roughness. Both dcMS and HiPIMS deposition present multilayers with strong (111) texture normal to the substrate. Using HiPIMS for deposition of the Py layer minimizes the alloying between individual layers compared to dcMS deposition performed at same average sputter power. However, this improvement in interface sharpness leads to a higher magnetic coercivity and a poor hard axis in the film plane. On the other hand, multilayers with alloying present a linear hard axis. Furthermore, we studied Py/Cu and Py/CuPt multilayers, prepared under identical conditions using HiPIMS. The results indicate that in the Py/Pt case, deterioration of the in-plane uniaxial anisotropy, is caused by inverse magnetostriction originating from the large lattice mismatch between Py and Pt. The Py/Pt multilayers that exhibit alloying have a less strained interface and have a well defined uniaxial anisotropy.

The effect of magnetic field configuration on structural and mechanical properties of TiN coatings deposited by HiPIMS and dcMS

The quality of coatings deposited by magnetron sputtering is known to depend on, among others, the magnetic field strength (Φ) and the magnetic field configuration. Furthermore, high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is known to result in low defect - high density coatings, and is therefore used to deposit barrier coatings against wear and corrosion. The influence of varying the Φ, on deposition rate (R), structure and hardness of titanium nitride coatings prepared by HiPIMS and dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS) was investigated. At 22mT, the ratio between HiPIMS deposition rate and dcMS deposition rate (RHiPIMS/RdcMS) was almost equal to 1. As Φ was increased from 22mT to 35mT, R decreased by 28% for HiPIMS and increased by 15.6% for dcMS, and RHiPIMS/RdcMS was reduced from 1 to 0.63. From 35mT to 44mT, the decrease in R slowed to 6% for HiPIMS and to 12.5% for dcMS. The (111) orientation was dominant over (200) orientation for both HiPIMS and dcMS, and become less dominant with the Φ in the case of dcMS. The residual stresses and surface roughness were determined and their evolution with Φ is highlighted. Mechanical characterization of the deposited coatings was performed, where the hardness tests showed that on average the HiPIMS coatings (29-34GPa) were some 5 GPa harder than dcMS coatings (25-27GPa).

Oblique angle deposition of nickel thin films by high-power impulse magnetron sputtering.

Background: Oblique angle deposition is known for yielding the growth of columnar grains that are tilted in the direction of the deposition flux. Using this technique combined with high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) can induce unique properties in ferromagnetic thin films. Earlier we have explored the properties of polycrystalline and epitaxially deposited permalloy thin films deposited under 35° tilt using HiPIMS and compared it with films deposited by dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS). The films prepared by HiPIMS present lower anisotropy and coercivity fields than films deposited with dcMS. For the epitaxial films dcMS deposition gives biaxial anisotropy while HiPIMS deposition gives a well-defined uniaxial anisotropy.Results: We report on the deposition of 50 nm polycrystalline nickel thin films by dcMS and HiPIMS while the tilt angle with respect to the substrate normal is varied from 0° to 70°. The HiPIMS-deposited films are always denser, with a smoother surface and are magnetically softer than the dcMS-deposited films under the same deposition conditions. The obliquely deposited HiPIMS films are significantly more uniform in terms of thickness. Cross-sectional SEM images reveal that the dcMS-deposited film under 70° tilt angle consists of well-defined inclined nanocolumnar grains while grains of HiPIMS-deposited films are smaller and less tilted. Both deposition methods result in in-plane isotropic magnetic behavior at small tilt angles while larger tilt angles result in uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. The transition tilt angle varies with deposition method and is measured around 35° for dcMS and 60° for HiPIMS.Conclusion: Due to the high discharge current and high ionized flux fraction, the HiPIMS process can suppress the inclined columnar growth induced by oblique angle deposition. Thus, the ferromagnetic thin films obliquely deposited by HiPIMS deposition exhibit different magnetic properties than dcMS-deposited films. The results demonstrate the potential of the HiPIMS process to tailor the material properties for some important technological applications in addition to the ability to fill high aspect ratio trenches and coating on cutting tools with complex geometries.

The Effect of Magnetic Field Strength and Geometry on the Deposition Rate and Ionized Flux Fraction in the HiPIMS Discharge

We explored the effect of magnetic field strength | B | and geometry (degree of balancing) on the deposition rate and ionized flux fraction F flux in dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS) and high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) when depositing titanium. The HiPIMS discharge was run in two different operating modes. The first one we refer to as “fixed voltage mode” where the cathode voltage was kept fixed at 625 V while the pulse repetition frequency was varied to achieve the desired time average power (300 W). The second mode we refer to as “fixed peak current mode” and was carried out by adjusting the cathode voltage to maintain a fixed peak discharge current and by varying the frequency to achieve the same average power. Our results show that the dcMS deposition rate was weakly sensitive to variations in the magnetic field while the deposition rate during HiPIMS operated in fixed voltage mode changed from 30% to 90% of the dcMS deposition rate as | B | decreased. In contrast, when operating the HiPIMS discharge in fixed peak current mode, the deposition rate increased only slightly with decreasing | B | . In fixed voltage mode, for weaker | B | , the higher was the deposition rate, the lower was the F flux . In the fixed peak current mode, both deposition rate and F flux increased with decreasing | B | . Deposition rate uniformity measurements illustrated that the dcMS deposition uniformity was rather insensitive to changes in | B | while both HiPIMS operating modes were highly sensitive. The HiPIMS deposition rate uniformity could be 10% lower or up to 10% higher than the dcMS deposition rate uniformity depending on | B | and in particular the magnetic field topology. We related the measured quantities, the deposition rate and ionized flux fraction, to the ionization probability α t and the back attraction probability of the sputtered species β t . We showed that the fraction of the ions of the sputtered material that escape back attraction increased by 30% when | B | was reduced during operation in fixed peak current mode while the ionization probability of the sputtered species increased with increasing | B | , due to increased discharge current, when operating in fixed voltage mode.

Role of ionization fraction on the surface roughness, density, and interface mixing of the films deposited by thermal evaporation, dc magnetron sputtering, and HiPIMS: An atomistic simulation

The effect of ionization fraction on the epitaxial growth of Cu film on Cu (111) substrate at room temperature is explored. Three deposition methods, thermal evaporation, dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS), and high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) are compared. Three deposition conditions, i.e., fully neutral, 50% ionized, and 100% ionized flux were considered thermal evaporation, dcMS, and HiPIMS, respectively, for ∼20000 adatoms. It is shown that higher ionization fraction of the deposition flux leads to smoother surfaces by two major mechanisms, i.e., decreasing clustering in the vapor phase and bicollision of high energy ions at the film surface. The bicollision event consists of local amorphization which fills the gaps between islands followed by crystallization due to secondary collisions. The bicollision events are found to be very important to prevent island growth to become dominant and increase the surface roughness. Regardless of the deposition method, epitaxial Cu thin films suffer from stacking fault areas (twin boundaries) in agreement with recent experimental results. Thermal evaporation and dcMS deposition present negligible interface mixing while HiPIMS deposition presents considerable interface mixing.

Effect of atomic ordering on the magnetic anisotropy of single crystal Ni80Fe20

We investigate the effect of atomic ordering on the magnetic anisotropy of Ni80Fe20 at.% (Py). To this end, Py films were grown epitaxially on MgO(001) using dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS) and high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS). Aside from twin boundaries observed in the latter case, both methods present high quality single crystals with cube-on-cube epitaxial relationship as verified by the polar mapping of important crystal planes. However, X-ray diffraction results indicate higher order for the dcMS deposited film towards L12 Ni3Fe superlattice. This difference can be understood by the very high deposition rate of HiPIMS during each pulse which suppresses adatom mobility and ordering. We show that the dcMS deposited film presents biaxial anisotropy while HiPIMS deposition gives well defined uniaxial anisotropy. Thus, higher order achieved in the dcMS deposition behaves as predicted by magnetocrystalline anisotropy i.e. easy axis along the [111] direction that forced in the plane along the [110] direction due to shape anisotropy. The uniaxial behaviour in HiPIMS deposited film then can be explained by pair ordering or more recent localized composition non-uniformity theories. Further, we studied magnetoresistance of the films along the [100] directions using an extended van der Pauw method. We find that the electrical resistivities of the dcMS deposited film are lower than in their HiPIMS counterparts verifying the higher order in the dcMS case.

Characteristics of TiN/W 2 N multilayers prepared using magnetron sputter deposition with dc and pulsed dc powers

Abstract A dc magnetron sputter (dcMS) deposition and a pulsed dcMS deposition methods were used respectively to deposit TiN and W 2 N coatings in a mixture gas of Ar and N 2 . Single layer TiN and W 2 N were first obtained to determine the deposition condition for the multilayers. TiN/W 2 N multilayers were deposited and the effects of the substrate rotation speed and the N 2 /Ar concentration on microstructure, hardness, and the corrosion property have been examined. It was observed that the multilayer TiN/W 2 N adheres well onto the substrate. In addition, the hardness and the anti-corrosion property of the multilayer are also better than that of the single-layer coatings.

Preparation of Al-doped ZnO transparent electrodes suitable for thin-film solar cell applications by various types of magnetron sputtering depositions

In order to determine the influence of different types of magnetron sputtering (MS) depositions on the characteristics of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films appropriate for applications as transparent electrodes in thin-film solar cells, transparent conducting AZO thin films were prepared on glass substrates at 200 °C by direct current (dc) magnetron sputtering (dc-MS), radio frequency (rf)-MS and rf power superimposed dc-MS (rf + dc-MS) depositions using an MS apparatus with the same AZO target. AZO thin films prepared by an rf + dc-MS deposition exhibited both a higher deposition rate than that found with rf-MS depositions and a lower resistivity or higher Hall mobility than those found with dc-MS. The lower dc sputter voltage featured in rf-MS and rf ± dc-MS depositions, producing smoother surface morphology and better crystallinity than obtained with dc-MS depositions. The light scattering characteristics of surface-textured AZO thin films prepared by various types of MS depositions were evaluated by observing the surface texture and measuring the optical transmittance and the diffusive component; wet-chemical etching of the thin film surface was performed in a 0.1% HCl solution. The obtainable haze property in the range from visible to near infrared in AZO films prepared by an rf + dc-MS deposition was markedly better than that obtained with dc-MS depositions.

Effect of inserting a buffer layer on the characteristics of transparent conducting impurity-doped ZnO thin films prepared by dc magnetron sputtering

In transparent conducting impurity-doped ZnO thin films prepared on glass substrates by a dc magnetron sputtering (dc-MS) deposition, the obtainable lowest resistivity and the spatial resistivity distribution on the substrate surface were improved by a newly developed MS deposition method. The decrease of obtainable lowest resistivity as well as the improvement of spatial resistivity distribution on the substrate surface in Al- or Ga-doped ZnO (AZO or GZO) thin films were successfully achieved by inserting a very thin buffer layer, prepared using the same MS apparatus with the same target, between the thin film and the glass substrate. The deposition of the buffer layer required a more strongly oxidized target surface than possible to attain during a conventional dc-MS deposition. The optimal thickness of the buffer layer was found to be about 10 nm for both GZO and AZO thin films. The resistivity decrease is mainly attributed to an increase of Hall mobility rather than carrier concentration, resulting from an improvement of crystallinity coming from insertion of the buffer layer. Resistivities of 3 × 10 − 4 and 4 × 10 − 4 Ω cm were obtained in 100 nm-thick-GZO and AZO thin films, respectively, incorporating a 10 nm-thick-buffer layer prepared at a substrate temperature around 200 °C.

Effect of target properties on transparent conducting impurity-doped ZnO thin films deposited by DC magnetron sputtering

For the purpose of using transparent conducting impurity-doped ZnO thin films in liquid crystal display (LCD) applications, the relationship between the properties of dc magnetron sputtering (dc-MS) deposited thin films and the properties of the oxide targets used to produce them is investigated. Both Al-doped and Ga-doped ZnO (AZO and GZO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates using a dc-MS apparatus with various high-density sintered AZO or GZO disk targets (diameter of about 150 mm); the target and substrate were both fixed during the depositions. Using targets with a lower resistivity results in attaining more highly stable dc-MS depositions with higher deposition rates and lower arcing. In addition, dc-MS depositions using targets with a lower resistivity produced improvements in resistivity distribution on the substrate surface. It was found that the oxygen content in deposited thin films decreased as the oxygen content of the target used in the deposition was decreased. As a result, the dc-MS deposition of transparent conducting impurity-doped ZnO thin films suitable for LCD applications requires the preparation of significantly reduced AZO and GZO targets with low oxygen content.

Present status of transparent conducting oxide thin-film development for Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO) substitutes

This paper describes the present status and prospects for further development of transparent conducting oxide materials for use as Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO) substitutes in the thin-film transparent electrodes of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), currently the largest use of ITO, and, thus, of indium. The best substitute material for the ITO transparent electrodes used in LCDs is impurity-doped ZnO, e.g., Al- and Ga-doped ZnO (AZO and GZO). From resource and environmental points of view, AZO is the best candidate. The most important problems associated with substituting impurity-doped ZnO for the ITO used in LCDs have already been resolved in laboratory trials. Under the present circumstances, (rf and dc)-magnetron sputtering (rf + dc-MS) deposition, both with and without H 2 gas introduction, has been found to be the best deposition method to prepare impurity-doped ZnO thin films for practical use; AZO thin films with a resistivity on the order of 10 − 4 Ω cm were prepared on glass substrates with an approximately uniform resistivity spatial distribution and a thickness above 100 nm. In order to improve the resistivity stability, AZO and GZO thin films co-doped with another impurity have been newly developed. A 50 nm-thick V-co-doped AZO (AZO:V) thin film was stable enough to be acceptable for use in practical transparent electrode applications. However, it seems likely that obtaining a stability comparable to that of ITO using impurity-doped ZnO will be difficult for thin films with a thickness below approximately 30 nm.

On the deposition rate in a high power pulsed magnetron sputtering discharge

The effect of the high pulse current and the duty cycle on the deposition rate in high power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS) is investigated. Using a Cr target and the same average target current, deposition rates are compared to dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS) rates. It is found that for a peak target current density ITpd of up to 570mAcm−2, HPPMS and dcMS deposition rates are equal. For ITpd>570mAcm−2, optical emission spectroscopy shows a pronounced increase of the Cr+∕Cr0 signal ratio. In addition, a loss of deposition rate, which is attributed to self-sputtering, is observed.