From pulsed-DCMS and HiPIMS to microwave plasma-assisted sputtering: Their influence on the properties of diamond-like carbon films
From pulsed-DCMS and HiPIMS to microwave plasma-assisted sputtering: Their influence on the properties of diamond-like carbon films
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DOI：
10.1016/j.surfcoat.2021.127928
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发表时间：
2021-11
影响因子：
5.4
通讯作者：
C. Hain;David Brown;Alex Welsh;K. Wieczerzak;R. Weiss;J. Michler;A. Hessler-Wyser;T. Nelis
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
C. Hain;David Brown;Alex Welsh;K. Wieczerzak;R. Weiss;J. Michler;A. Hessler-Wyser;T. Nelis
通过标准磁控溅射（MS）制造高硬度非氢化类金刚石碳（DLC）通常受到碳的低溅射产率和电离速率的阻碍，因此对MS的脉冲替代方案的研究，以及溅射物质后电离方法，特别令人感兴趣。本文主要研究了脉冲直流磁控溅射（pDCMS）、高功率脉冲磁控溅射（HiPIMS）及其微波等离子体辅助（MA-pDCMS、MA-HiPIMS）工艺对DLC薄膜性能的影响。两种设置分别用于基于pDCMS和HiPIM的方法。使用拉曼光谱，纳米压痕，X-射线反射计和扫描电子显微镜，其中的pDCMS产生的膜的特征在于另外通过膜应力测量的膜。此外，在原位时间分辨朗缪尔探针等离子体分析进行HiPIMS和MA-HiPIMS条件下，分析磁控管和微波等离子体对彼此的影响。对于基于DCMS和HiPIMS的程序，发现微波等离子体的添加并不有利于获得超过30 GPa的硬度，然而，它确实能够改变膜的形态。此外，这项研究显示了与衬底偏压同步溅射的潜力，以及微波等离子体源定位相对于衬底的重要性。
The fabrication of high-hardness non-hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (DLC) via standard magnetron sputtering (MS) is often hindered by the low sputtering yields and ionisation rates of carbon, therefore investigations into pulsed alternatives of MS, else sputtered species post-ionisation methods, are of particular interest. This work focuses on investigating the influence of pulsed-direct current MS (pDCMS), high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) and their microwave plasma-assisted (MA-pDCMS, MA-HiPIMS) variants on the properties of the fabricated DLC films. Two setups were used for the pDCMS- and HiPIMS-based methods, respectively. The films were characterised using Raman spectroscopy, nanoindentation, X-ray reflectometry and scanning electron microscopy, where the pDCMS-produced films were additionally characterised by film-stress measurements. Moreover,in situtime-resolved Langmuir probe plasma analysis was performed under HiPIMS and MA-HiPIMS conditions to analyse the influence of the magnetron and microwave plasmas on one another. For both DCMS- and HiPIMS-based procedures, it was found that the addition of microwave plasma did not facilitate attaining hardnesses beyond 30 GPa, however, it did enable modifying the morphology of the films. Furthermore, this study shows the potential of synchronised sputtering with substrate biasing, as well as the importance of microwave plasma source positioning in relation to the substrate.