Course Objectives
- Understand the mechanisms of the HIPIMS plasma discharge and fluxes to the substrate including self-organisation and transport
- Microstructure zone models for the growth of thin films in a HIPIMS environment
- Provide examples of the implementation of HIPIMS to film deposition
- Provide strategies for building a digital twin of the HIPIMS process
Course Description
The course starts with a brief introduction to basic plasma and sheath physics, with emphasis on plasma sources for depositing plasma with significant metal ionization and gas activation. Emphasis is put on the high pulsed power case, when significant ionization of the sputtered material occurs, leading to the new technology of high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS). The role of secondary electron emission and plasma self-organisation is examined. The growth mechanisms of metal, nitride and oxide thin films in a HIPIMS environment and influence of the metal ionisation and metal-to-nitrogen fluxes is covered in detail. The reactive technology is seen as enabling for efficient self- ion etching, diffusion treatments and self ion-assisted film deposition on large areas or batches of substrates. The course shows examples of HIPIMS coatings such as complex nitrides for oxidation-resistant coatings, metal nitrides for plasmonics, oxides for photocatalytic and biomedical applications and metal coatings for microelectronics and particle accelerators. It discusses HIPIMS-enhanced nitriding.
Course Content
- The evolution of ionized PVD techniques
- Sputtering: An introduction to the relevant physics of plasmas and sheaths
- Plasma self-organization, chemistry and transport to the substrate
- Interface engineering by using depositing HIPIMS plasmas
- Thin film nucleation and growth, microstructure evolution and texture evolution in HIPIMS
- Structure zone models in HIPIMS
- Deposition and coatings by HIPIMS – Applications
Who Should Attend?
This course is intended for engineers, scientists and students interested in Ionized PVD techniques.
Instructor
Arutiun P. Ehasarian
Professor, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
