An efficient way to evidence and to measure the metal ion fraction in high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) post-discharge with Pt, Au, Pd and mixed targets. (14th December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cuynet, S.; Lecas, T.; Caillard, A.; Brault, P.
• Is Part Of: Journal of plasma physics. Volume 82:Number 6(2016)
• Publication Date: 2016-12-14
• Subjects: plasma diagnostics, -- plasma flows, -- plasma properties; Plasma (Ionized gases) -- Periodicals; 530.4405
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022377816001136
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-3778

Abstract

Abstract : The proportion of metal ions in a high power impulse magnetron sputtering discharge is key information for the potential development of new materials and new layer architectures deposited by this technique. This paper aims to measure this proportion by using a homemade system consisting of a quartz crystal microbalance and a grid energy analyser assembly. Such a system yields relevant results on the composition of the post-discharge depending on the nature of the gas (Ar, Kr, Xe) and the target materials (Pt, Pd, Au, $\text{Pt}_{50}\text{Au}_{50}$ and $\text{Pt}_{5}\text{Pd}_{95}$ ). In our conditions, the highest proportion of metal ions in the post-discharge are obtained by using Ar gas and reaches 10 %, 12 %, 50 %, 19 % and 88 % for Pt, Au, Pd, $\text{Pt}_{50}\text{Au}_{50}$ and $\text{Pt}_{5}\text{Pd}_{95}$ targets, respectively.