Low peak power deposition regime in HiPIMS: Deposition of hard and dense nanocomposite Ti-Si-N films by DOMS without the need of energetic bombardment

摘要

Nanocomposite Ti-Si-N thin films have been extensively studied for more than two decades mainly for the production of super hard materials. However, recently, several authors have shown that the use of HiPIMS in Ti-Si-N deposition bring about new opportunities for optimization of the films properties. HiPIMS allows for markedly different film growth pathways depending on the deposition conditions. In a previous work, regarding the deposition of Ti-Si-N films by DOMS (Deep Oscillation Magnetron Sputtering), authors also showed that, at low peak power, a unique optimal compromise of ionization fraction and energy of the sputtered species can be achieved. The main objective of the present work is to further investigate the low peak power regime in the deposition of Ti-Si-N films by DOMS. For this purpose, Ti-Si-N films with a Si content of 7 at.% were deposited by DOMS using a similar configuration as in our previous work but with fewer Si pellets placed on the Ti target in order to achieve a lower Si content.