Discharge Characteristics Of Hybrid High Power Complex Pulse Magnetron Sputtering And Preparation Of Nitride Films

Hybrid high power pulse magnetron sputtering technique (HHPPMS) has attracted widespread attention for high ionization rate, no large particles, dense film and excellent performances films.Discharge characteristics of HHPPMS were investigated in this paper. The effect of instrumental parameters such as flow ratio of nitrogen to argon, bias voltage, complex DC current, pulse width, pulse frequency and gas pressure for on discharge current of Ti and Zr targets and the substrate was investigated systematically in this work. The results show that the effect of flow ratio of nitrogen to argon on the currents targets and the substrate is not obvious when the ratio ranges between in 10/0 to 10/4. And target current and substrate current rise with bias voltage applied and complex DC current. Moreover, the application of complex DC current may reduce the delay time of high power pulse. The effect of pulse width and frequency on bias voltage and substrate current for Ti target and Zr target is different because of difference of ionization rate and sputtering yield. Substrate current flowing through Zr target decreases due to the significant effect of electron flow.ZrN and TiN films were deposited on stainless steel successfully using HHPPMS technique. The effect of the ratio of nitrogen to argon, gas pressures and DC bias voltage on deposition rate, surface morphology, phase structure, adhesion, nanohardness, friction and wear and corrosion resistance of TiN and ZrN films has been investigated. Chemical composition and microstructure of fabricated films were analysized using scanning electron microscopy(SEM), atomic force microscope(AFM )and X-ray diffraction(XRD). Adhesion, hardness and friction and wear properties and corrosion characteristics in experimental environment are tested using scratch tester, Nano-Indenter tester, friction and wear tester and electrochemical corrosion equipment。The results show that, compared to DC magnetron sputtering(DCMS), the surface of films fabricated using HHPPMS is more dense and smoother.The defects such as porosity are fewer and the average roughness is smaller for ZrN and TiN films prepared by HHPPMS. The bias voltage of the substrate affects significantly the roughness of the films. Minium roughness of 1.17nm is achieved with bias of -100V. Compared with the DCMS, the crystal structure of film prepared by HHPPMS changes. The preferred orientation for ZrN films is more evident. Interfacial adhesion of films prepared by DCMS and HHPPMS respectively is 50N or so. The hardness of ZrN films prepared by DCMS and HHPPMS both are about 30Gpa. Whereas the effect of gas pressure on film hardness is more significant for HHPPMS. The hardness is about 20Gpa with the gas pressure of 0.7Pa. The flow ratio of nitrogen to argon, gas pressure and bias voltage affect significantly on the friction and wear resistance of ZrN films. The base wear resistance of ZrN films prepared by HHPPMS is achieved with 10/1.5 fioe ratio of nitrogen to argon, gas pressure of 0.5Pa and bias voltage of -100V. The corrosion-resistant of ZrN prepared by HHPPMS and CDMS is better than that of the stainless steel samples.