In the further development of reactive sputter deposition, strategies which allow for stabilization of the transition zone between the metallic and compound modes, elimination of the process hysteresis, and increase of the deposition rate, are of particular interest. In this study, the hysteresis behavior and the characteristics of the transition zone during reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) of Al and Ce targets in an Ar-O(2) atmosphere as a function of the pulsing frequency and the pumping speed are investigated. Comparison with reactive direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) reveals that HiPIMS allows for elimination/suppression of the hysteresis and a smoother transition from the metallic to the compound sputtering mode. For the experimental conditions employed in the present study, optimum behavior with respect to the hysteresis width is obtained at frequency values between 2 and 4 kHz, while HiPIMS processes with values below or above this range resemble the DCMS behavior. Al-O films are deposited using both HiPIMS and DCMS. Analysis of the film properties shows that elimination/suppression of the hysteresis in HiPIMS facilitates the growth of stoichiometric and transparent Al(2)O(3) at relatively high deposition rates over a wider range of experimental conditions as compared to DCMS.

igh power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) has proven to be capable of substantial improvement of the quality of deposited coatings. Lately, there have been a number of reports indicating that the hysteresis effect may be reduced in HiPIMS mode resulting in an increase of the deposition rate of stoichiometric compound as compared to a direct current magnetron sputtering process in oxide mode. In this contribution, we have studied the hysteresis behaviour of Ti metal targets sputtered in Ar + O(2) mixtures. For fixed pulse on time and a constant average power, there is an optimum frequency minimizing the hysteresis. The effect of gas dynamics was analyzed by measurements of the gas refill time and rarefaction. Results indicate that the gas rarefaction may be responsible for the observed hysteresis behaviour. The results are in agreement with a previous study of Al oxide reactive process.

The discharge current behavior in reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) of Ti-O and Al-O is investigated. It is found that for both metals, the discharge peak current significantly increases in the oxide mode in contrast to the behavior in reactive direct current magnetron sputtering where the discharge current increases for Al but decreases for Ti when oxygen is introduced. In order to investigate the increase in the discharge current in HiPIMS-mode, the ionic contribution of the discharge in the oxide and metal mode is measured using time-resolved mass spectrometry. The energy distributions and time evolution are investigated during the pulse-on time as well as in the post-discharge. In the oxide mode, the discharge is dominated by ionized oxygen, which has been preferentially sputtered from the target surface. The ionized oxygen determines the discharge behavior in reactive HiPIMS.

The effect of peak power in a high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) reactive deposition of TiO(2) films has been studied with respect to the deposition rate and coating properties. With increasing peak power not only the ionization of the sputtered material increases but also their energy. In order to correlate the variation in the ion energy distributions with the film properties, the phase composition, density and optical properties of the films grown with different HiPIMS-parameters have been investigated and compared to a film grown using direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS). All experiments were performed for constant average power and pulse on time (100W and 35 mu s, respectively), different peak powers were achieved by varying the frequency of pulsing. Ion energy distributions for Ti and O and its dependence on the process conditions have been studied. It was found that films with the highest density and highest refractive index were grown under moderate HiPIMS conditions (moderate peak powers) resulting in only a small loss in mass-deposition rate compared to DCMS. It was further found that TiO2 films with anatase and rutile phases can be grown at room temperature without substrate heating and without post-deposition annealing.

Ag₂Cu₂O₃ thin films were prepared by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) from an alloy silver-copper (Ag0.5Cu0.5) target on silicon and glass substrates. The effects of the oxygen gas flow and the peak power on the structural properties of the films were investigated. Structural characterization by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction measurements show that the structure of Ag₂Cu₂O₃ is related to the oxygen flow and the peak power. Films grown with high peak power required higher oxygen flow rate in order to get stoichiometric Ag₂Cu₂O₃ thin films. It was further found that using HiPIMS, polycrystalline Ag₂Cu₂O₃ films can be grown at room temperature without substrate heating or post-deposition annealing, while films deposited by DCMS exhibit poor crystallinity under the same process conditions.