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Very low pressure high power impulse triggered magnetron sputtering

Patent ·
OSTI ID:1107788
;
A method and apparatus are described for very low pressure high powered magnetron sputtering of a coating onto a substrate. By the method of this invention, both substrate and coating target material are placed into an evacuable chamber, and the chamber pumped to vacuum. Thereafter a series of high impulse voltage pulses are applied to the target. Nearly simultaneously with each pulse, in one embodiment, a small cathodic arc source of the same material as the target is pulsed, triggering a plasma plume proximate to the surface of the target to thereby initiate the magnetron sputtering process. In another embodiment the plasma plume is generated using a pulsed laser aimed to strike an ablation target material positioned near the magnetron target surface.
Research Organization:
LBNL (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States))
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00098; AC02-05CH11231
Assignee:
The Regents of the University of California (Oakland, CA)
Patent Number(s):
8,568,572
Application Number:
12/797,829
OSTI ID:
1107788
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (9)

Streaming metal plasma generation by vacuum arc plasma guns journal February 1998
Self-Sputtering Far above the Runaway Threshold: An Extraordinary Metal-Ion Generator journal January 2009
Influence of high power densities on the composition of pulsed magnetron plasmas journal April 2002
Efficient, compact power supply for repetitively pulsed, “triggerless” cathodic arcs journal December 1999
Plasma “anti-assistance” and “self-assistance” to high power impulse magnetron sputtering journal April 2009
Sustained self sputtering of different materials using dc magnetron journal August 1995
Evolution of the plasma composition of a high power impulse magnetron sputtering system studied with a time-of-flight spectrometer journal May 2009
Approaches to rid cathodic arc plasmas of macro- and nanoparticles: a review journal November 1999
Fundamentals of pulsed plasmas for materials processing journal May 2004

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