Mixed-mode high-power impulse magnetron sputter deposition of tetrahedral amorphous carbon with pulse-length control of ionization

© 2016 Author(s). High-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is used to deposit amorphous carbon thin films with sp3 fractions of 13% to 82%. Increasing the pulse length results in a transition from conventional HiPIMS deposition to a "mixed-mode" in which an arc triggers on the targ...

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Main Authors: Tucker, Mark, Ganesan, R., McCulloch, D., Partridge, J., Stueber, M., Ulrich, S., Bilek, M., McKenzie, D., Marks, Nigel
Format: Journal Article
Published: American Institute of Physics 2016
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT120100924
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/63459
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author Tucker, Mark
Ganesan, R.
McCulloch, D.
Partridge, J.
Stueber, M.
Ulrich, S.
Bilek, M.
McKenzie, D.
Marks, Nigel
author_facet Tucker, Mark
Ganesan, R.
McCulloch, D.
Partridge, J.
Stueber, M.
Ulrich, S.
Bilek, M.
McKenzie, D.
Marks, Nigel
author_sort Tucker, Mark
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2016 Author(s). High-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is used to deposit amorphous carbon thin films with sp3 fractions of 13% to 82%. Increasing the pulse length results in a transition from conventional HiPIMS deposition to a "mixed-mode" in which an arc triggers on the target surface, resulting in a large flux of carbon ions. The films are characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, ellipsometry, nanoindentation, elastic recoil detection analysis, and measurements of stress and contact angle. All properties vary in a consistent manner, showing a high tetrahedral character only for long pulses, demonstrating that mixed-mode deposition is the source of the high carbon ion flux. Varying the substrate bias reveals an "energy window" effect, where the sp3 fraction of the films is greatest for a substrate bias around -100 V and decreases for higher or lower bias values. In the absence of bias, the films' properties show little dependence on the pulse length, showing that energetic ions are the origin of the highly tetrahedral character.
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publishDate 2016
publisher American Institute of Physics
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-634592018-05-18T06:44:39Z Mixed-mode high-power impulse magnetron sputter deposition of tetrahedral amorphous carbon with pulse-length control of ionization Tucker, Mark Ganesan, R. McCulloch, D. Partridge, J. Stueber, M. Ulrich, S. Bilek, M. McKenzie, D. Marks, Nigel © 2016 Author(s). High-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is used to deposit amorphous carbon thin films with sp3 fractions of 13% to 82%. Increasing the pulse length results in a transition from conventional HiPIMS deposition to a "mixed-mode" in which an arc triggers on the target surface, resulting in a large flux of carbon ions. The films are characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, ellipsometry, nanoindentation, elastic recoil detection analysis, and measurements of stress and contact angle. All properties vary in a consistent manner, showing a high tetrahedral character only for long pulses, demonstrating that mixed-mode deposition is the source of the high carbon ion flux. Varying the substrate bias reveals an "energy window" effect, where the sp3 fraction of the films is greatest for a substrate bias around -100 V and decreases for higher or lower bias values. In the absence of bias, the films' properties show little dependence on the pulse length, showing that energetic ions are the origin of the highly tetrahedral character. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/63459 10.1063/1.4946841 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT120100924 American Institute of Physics restricted
spellingShingle Tucker, Mark
Ganesan, R.
McCulloch, D.
Partridge, J.
Stueber, M.
Ulrich, S.
Bilek, M.
McKenzie, D.
Marks, Nigel
Mixed-mode high-power impulse magnetron sputter deposition of tetrahedral amorphous carbon with pulse-length control of ionization
title Mixed-mode high-power impulse magnetron sputter deposition of tetrahedral amorphous carbon with pulse-length control of ionization
title_full Mixed-mode high-power impulse magnetron sputter deposition of tetrahedral amorphous carbon with pulse-length control of ionization
title_fullStr Mixed-mode high-power impulse magnetron sputter deposition of tetrahedral amorphous carbon with pulse-length control of ionization
title_full_unstemmed Mixed-mode high-power impulse magnetron sputter deposition of tetrahedral amorphous carbon with pulse-length control of ionization
title_short Mixed-mode high-power impulse magnetron sputter deposition of tetrahedral amorphous carbon with pulse-length control of ionization
title_sort mixed-mode high-power impulse magnetron sputter deposition of tetrahedral amorphous carbon with pulse-length control of ionization
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT120100924
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/63459