Study on the plasma characterization for metal target and the properties of TiN coating by high power impulsed magnetron sputtering

• Main Authors: Hsiao-Ku Shih, 施効谷
• Other Authors: Chi-Lung Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/54034362867266766868

碩士 === 明道大學 === 材料科學與工程學系碩士班 === 101 === High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is one of the latest coating technology. A pulsed power with low duty cycle is used to generate the plasma to having a plasma concentrations up to 1019/m3 and an ionization rate of 69 to 99%. In this study, Ti target with high purity was used to deposit TiN thin films on different substrates by HiPIMS deposition technology. The effect of the N2/Ar ratio and the duty cycle on the characterization of the TiN thin film was also investigated. In the study, we use differential carbon rod and current clamp meter to measure the peak voltage and the peak current of the titanium target. The peak power density was therefore calculated. We also use optical excitation spectroscopy (OES) to diagnosis the plasma. Surface and cross-sectional morphology and thickness of the obtained TiN films on Si substrate were measured using SEM. Crystallinity and microstructure were investigated using X-ray diffractometry. The average surface roughness was determined by AFM. Composition and chemical bonding state of the film surface were analyzed using XRD. The hardness and elastic modulus were measured using nanoindenter. The wear behavior was investigated using a ball-on-disk tribometer. The effect of the N2/Ar ratio was first discussed and followed by the duty cycle. The result shows that peak power density increases with decreasing the duty cycle. The highest instantaneous power density of 1019.07 W/cm2 was obtained at the duty cycle of 2%. From the OES analysis, it was found that the ionized Ti (Ti II-334.94nm) increases as the duty cycle decrease. This is resulted from that the high peak current increases the dissociation at low duty cycle. The XRD analysis shows that smaller grain size was observed at low duty cycle. The presented orientation was TiN (111). The surface morphology becomes dense at low duty cycle. The columnar structure also becomes finer with decreasing duty cycle. The deposition rate decreased with decreasing the duty cycle due to the real film deposition time is shorter. The highest hardness of 29.26 GPa was obtained at the duty cycle of 4.5%. The surface roughness decreased from 6.71 to 2.01 nm with decreasing the duty cycle to form a smooth surface structure. The coefficient of friction of 0.5.