In-line Magnetron Sputtering Research Articles

Highly Transparent Red Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with AZO/Ag/AZO Multilayer Electrode.

Free-form factor optoelectronics is becoming more important for various applications. Specifically, flexible and transparent optoelectronics offers the potential to be adopted in wearable devices in displays, solar cells, or biomedical applications. However, current transparent electrodes are limited in conductivity and flexibility. This study aims to address these challenges and explore potential solutions. For the next-generation transparent conductive electrode, Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) and silver (AZO/Ag/AZO) deposited by in-line magnetron sputtering without thermal treatment was investigated, and this transparent electrode was used as a transparent organic light-emitting diode (OLED) anode to maximize the transparency characteristics. The experiment and simulation involved adjusting the thickness of Ag and AZO and OLED structure to enhance the transmittance and device performance. The AZO/Ag/AZO with Ag of 12 nm and AZO of 32 nm thickness achieved the results of the highest figure of merit (FOM) (Φ550 = 4.65 mΩ-1) and lowest roughness. The full structure of transparent OLED (TrOLED) with AZO/Ag/AZO anode and Mg:Ag cathode reached 64.84% transmittance at 550 nm, and 300 cd/m2 at about 4 V. The results demonstrate the feasibility of adopting flexible substrates, such as PET, without the need for thermal treatment. This research provides valuable insights into the development of transparent and flexible electronic devices.

19‐3: Slim Backlights for Holographic 3D Displays by Advanced Coatings Capabilities

Advanced high precision AR coating stacks are key enabler for backlight units for slim holographic 3D displays. This is achieved by an optical functionalization of these units to ensure the optimized incoupling of coherent “RGB” light under an extremely shallow angle of 87°. In order to provide for a homogenous illumination, the elaborate coating stacks had to be applied with optical precision over an area of 300x200 mm² for a display size of 260x160 mm². This was achieved by advanced inline magnetron sputtering, which enables this technology for even larger display sizes. Results of the optical performance, the technology and hardware will be presented.

Effect of working pressure on Sn/In composition and optoelectronic properties of ITO films prepared by high power impulse magnetron sputtering

Indium tin oxide (ITO) film was prepared by an in-line magnetron sputtering system equipped with a high power impulse power source. The influences of working pressure on the film deposition mechanism and properties were investigated. The excitation/ionization level of the sputtered species increases with working pressure as indicated by optical emission spectra. The Sn/In atomic ratio and oxygen vacancy concentration in the film decreases as working pressure increases due to unequally increasing ionization rate and self-sputtering yield of Sn and In atoms and stronger oxidizing activity of oxygen species. As a result, The film resistivity, transparency and optical band gap increase with working pressure. ITO film with a low resistivity of 3.7 × 10−3 Ω cm and a high transmittance at 380–800 nm of over 84.7% can be obtained when deposited at a working pressure of 8 × 10−2 Torr.

Effect of argon-nitrogen mixed ambient Ni sputtering on the interface diffusion of Ni/Ti periodic multilayers and supermirrors

Interface roughness and interface diffusion are two very crucial parameters in determining the performances of thin film multilayer devices for applications in X-ray optics, neutron optics, giant magneto resistance devices etc. Preparation of these thin film multilayers with sharp interfaces is a technological challenge and researchers are using different methods to reduce the interface imperfections. It has been observed that by mixing nitrogen with argon in sputtering ambience during deposition of Ni layers, neutron reflectivity of Ni/Ti neutron supermirrors can be improved significantly.To elucidate the physical mechanism behind this observation, two sets of Ni/Ti periodic multilayers have been prepared using an indigenously built in-line magnetron sputtering system, in one set pure Ar has been used in sputtering ambience and in the other set a mixed ambience of Ar + N2 has been used for deposition of Ni layers. Both the sets of multilayers have been thoroughly characterized by specular and diffused Grazing Incidence X-ray Reflectivity, Nuclear Resonance Reaction, X-ray diffraction and Grazing Incidence Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure measurements using synchrotron radiation. All the above complementary measurements unambiguously establish that the reason for improved performance of the supermirror deposited with Ar + N2 ambience is the reduction of interface diffusion at Ti-on-Ni interfaces.

Optical and electrical properties of stainless steel oxynitride thin films deposited in an in-line sputtering system

The optical and electrical properties of stainless steel oxynitride thin films have been studied for different flow rates of the reactive gases during the deposition process. Films were deposited in an in-line magnetron sputtering system under similar conditions as those found in large area industrial systems. The study of the optical properties was performed by IR-VIS spectrophotometry, DC conductivity measurements were performed by the four point method and the microstructural study and chemical analysis were performed by XRD, FESEM and XPS. The results show the transition of sample films from metal to semiconductor, as well as the feasibility of obtaining visible absorbing coatings with low DC conductivity from low-cost materials. The deposited films show the typical growth structure for samples produced in in-line deposition systems commonly used in the large area coatings industry.

Silicon Strengthened CrAIVN Coatings

CrAlVN coatings are of good intrinsic mechanical and tribological properties but lack of strength. Silicon can provide nitride coating high strength and excellent oxidation resistance. Logically, the combination of CrAlVN and Si should provide a good candidate for dry machining. The effect of silicon content on CrAlSiVN coating's mechanical, tribological properties and oxidation resistance was investigated. The coatings were deposited on cemented tungsten carbide and Si wafer (100) substrates in an in-line magnetron sputtering system. Grazing incidence X-ray diffractometer, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron probe micro-analyzer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy were employed to characterize the microstructure and chemistry. Nanoindentation and ball-on-disc tribo-tester were used in characterization of the mechanical and tribological properties. Incorporating with silicon, the CrAlVN coating was strengthened (hardness: 21.2 GPa up to 38. 7 GPa); even after 2 h exposure to 700 °C in air, the hardness still maintains at 11.0 GPa.

Towards hard yet self-lubricious CrAlSiN coatings

CrAlSiN coatings are of high hardness, excellent wear and oxidation resistance but lack of lubriciousness. Vanadium nitride (VN) is easily oxidized to form vanadium oxides and becomes lubricious under stress. Incorporating VN into CrAlSiN to form CrAlSiVN coating renders both hardness and self-lubrication in dry machining. This study investigates the effect of vanadium content on hard yet self-lubricious coating’s mechanical and tribological properties. The coatings are deposited on cemented tungsten carbide and Si wafer (100) substrates in an in-line magnetron sputtering system. Grazing incidence X-ray diffractometer, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron probe micro-analyzer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy are employed to characterize the microstructures and chemistry. Nanoindentation and ball-on-disc tribo-tester are used in characterization of the mechanical and tribological properties. The coatings demonstrate lubriciousness of coefficient of friction with tungsten carbide from 0.55 down to 0.39 with acceptable loss of hardness (from ∼35GPa down to ∼30GPa).

Self-lubricating CrVN Coating Strengthened via Multilayering with VN

To improve the mechanical properties of self-lubricating chromium vanadium nitride (CrVN) coatings, vanadium nitride (VN) is combined with CrVN to form multilayered CrVN/VN coatings through an in-line magnetron sputtering system. The strengthening effect of the period thickness on the mechanical and tribological properties is studied. X-ray diffractometer, low-angle X-ray reflectivity, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, electron probe micro-analyzer and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy are employed to characterize the microstructures and chemical composition. Nanoindentation and ball-on-disc tribo-tester are used in characterization of the mechanical and tribological properties. The CrVN/VN multilayer coatings demonstrate good lubrication property with coefficient of friction down to 0. 23. Multilayering with VN, the hardness of CrVN jumps to 27. 6 GPa with period thickness of 6 nm, which has an improvement of 5. 1 GPa compared with that of 22. 5 GPa from rule-of-mixture.

DC 마그네트론 스퍼터링법에 의한 대면적 투명전도성 ZnO(Al)와 ZnO(AlGa) 박막제조 및 물리적 특성 연구

In-line magnetron sputtering system을 사용하여 대면적(<TEX>$60{\times}60cm^2$</TEX>) 소다라임 유리기판위에 투명전도성 ZnO(Al)와 ZnO(AlGa) 박막을 500 nm에서 1,450 nm까지 두께별로 증착하여 전기적, 광학적 특성을 연구하였다. XRD를 통해 c-축 방향성(002)을 가지고 성장된 것을 확인 하였다. Hall 특성 분석을 통해 이동도 및 캐리어 농도의 특성을 확인 하였으며, 그에 따른 ZnO(AlGa)의 비저항이 <TEX>$9.03{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$</TEX>에서 <TEX>$7.83{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$</TEX>으로 ZnO(Al) 보다 높게 나타났으며, 가시광선 영역에서 투과율은 87.6%에서 84.3%으로 나타났다. 따라서 ZnO(AlGa)는 전기적 특성이 우수하고 높은 투과율로 대면적용 투명전도성 재료로의 활용에 적합한 특성을 지닌 것을 확인 할 수 있었다. In this study, we studied the properties of ZnO(Al) and ZnO(AlGa) thin film according to film thickness deposited on SLG by In-line magnetron sputtering system. XRD, FESEM, 4-point probe, Hall measurement system and UV/Vis-NIR spectrophotometer were employed to analyze the properties of ZnO(Al) and ZnO(AlGa) thin film. The all films exhibited (002) preferential orientation with clear peak shape and high intensity. The carrier concentration and Hall mobility of ZnO(Al) and ZnO(AlGa) thin film were improved with increasing thickness. The resistivity of both films decreased when the film thickness was raised from 500 nm to 1,450 nm. And then relatively the resistivity of ZnO(AlGa) film was lower than that of ZnO(Al) film. The transmittance of the films decreased with increasing film thickness but all films exhibited optical transmittances of over 83.3% in the visible region.

Self-lubricating CrAlN/VN multilayer coatings at room temperature

Vanadium nitride (VN) is easily oxidized to form vanadium oxides and becomes lubricious under stress. CrAlN is hard thus CrAlN/VN multilayer coatings render both hardness and lubricious properties attractive in dry machining of soft metals. This study investigates the effect of multi-layering on the coating's mechanical and tribological properties at room temperature. The CrAlN/VN multilayer coatings are deposited on cemented tungsten carbide and Si wafer (100) substrates in an in-line magnetron sputtering system. A period contains one layer of CrAlN plus one adjacent layer of VN. The period thickness varies roughly from 3nm to 30nm; the total number of the periods varies from 30 to 300. X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron probe micro-analyzer are employed to characterize the microstructures and chemistry. Nanoindentation and ball-on-disk wear test are used in mechanical and tribological studies. The CrAlN/VN multilayer coatings have good lubricant property with lowest coefficient of friction of 0.26. At the period thickness of 20nm, the multilayer coatings obtained the best mechanical properties (hardness of 32.4GPa, elastic modulus of 375GPa, minimum wear rate of 1.1×10−7mm3/Nm).

Improvement of tribological performance of CrN coating via multilayering with VN

To improve the tribological performance of CrN coating, VN was introduced to form the CrN/VN multilayer structure via magnetron sputtering. The CrN/VN multilayer coatings with bilayer periods of 7, 13 and 27nm were investigated on the mechanical and tribological properties. The coatings were deposited on SUS420 and Si wafers (100) via in-line magnetron sputtering system. X-ray diffractometer, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and electron probe micro-analyzer were used to characterize the microstructures and chemical contents. Ball-on-disc wear test was used for tribological studies. The wear debris was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A hardness of 25.2GPa and coefficient of friction of 0.21 were achieved for multilayered coating in contrast to 16.7GPa in hardness and 0.4 in coefficient of friction for CrN coating.

Control of in-plane texture of body centered cubic metal thin films

We show that dramatically different in-plane textures can be produced in body centered cubic (bcc) metal thin films deposited on amorphous substrates under different deposition conditions. The crystallographic orientation distribution of polycrystalline bcc metal thin films on amorphous substrates often has a strong 〈110〉 fiber texture, indicating that {110} planes are parallel to the substrate plane. When deposition takes place under bombardment by energetic ions or atoms at an off-normal angle of incidence, the 〈110〉 fiber texture develops an in-plane texture, indicating nonrandom azimuthal orientations of the crystallites. Three orientations in Nb films have been observed under different deposition geometries, in which the energetic particle flux coincides with channeling directions in the bcc crystal structure. In-plane orientations in Mo films have also been obtained in magnetron sputtering systems with various configurations. These are described, and an example is given in which the in-plane orientation of Mo films deposited in two different in-line magnetron sputtering systems differs by a 90° rotation. In these two cases, there is a strong 〈110〉 fiber texture, but the in-plane 〈100〉 direction is oriented parallel to the scan direction in one system, and perpendicular to the scan direction in the other system. The conditions which produce such different in-plane textures in two apparently similar sputtering systems are discussed.

Underlayer-induced readback signal modulation in double-layer perpendicular media

The effects of sputtering double-layer CoCr/Permalloy flexible disks using an in-line magnetron sputtering system which simulates a possible configuration for high volume production of this media were investigated. It was found that angle-of-incidence effects due to the in-line nature of the process and the magnetic field from the magnetron sputtering cathode can both result in an anisotropic Permalloy underlayer. Modifying the angles-of-incidence of the sputtered atoms was found to be one way of controlling the anisotropy and signal modulation. Dependence of the read-back signal on the anisotropic permeability and thickness of the underlayer is reported.