A HIGH POWER IMPULSE MAGNETRON SPUTTERING PROCESS TO ACHIEVE A HIGH DENSITY HIGH SP3 CONTAINING LAYER

摘要

Methods for depositing a nanocrystalline diamond layer are disclosed herein. The method can include delivering a sputter gas to a substrate positioned in a processing region of a first process chamber, the first process chamber having a carbon-containing sputter target, delivering an energy pulse to the sputter gas to create a sputtering plasma, the sputtering plasma having a sputtering duration, the energy pulse having an average power between 1 W/cm² and 10 W/cm² and a pulse width which is less than 100 µs and greater than 30 µs, the sputtering plasma being controlled by a magnetic field, the magnetic field being less than 300 Gauss, and delivering the sputtering plasma to the sputter target to form an ionized species, the ionized species forming a crystalline carbon-containing layer on the substrate.