The development of electrical plasma diagnostics for HiPIMS discharges



Poolcharuansin, Phitsanu
The development of electrical plasma diagnostics for HiPIMS discharges. Doctor of Philosophy thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is a plasma-based thin film deposition technique in which extremely high power pulses are applied to a conventional magnetron sputtering source. As a result, the plasma density in HiPIMS discharges is considerably increased up to 1E19 per cubic metre, about three orders of magnitude higher than that in conventional direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) discharges. Hence the vapour of the sputtered species becomes highly ionised, leading to remarkable improvement in the microstructure and the properties of depositing films. To better control the deposition process, it is important to gain insights into the properties and the dynamics of the HiPIMS plasmas. This thesis is associated with the investigations on HiPIMS plasmas using a number of electrical diagnostic tools including a Langmuir probe, a retarding field energy analyser and a gridded quartz crystal microbalance. It was shown, using a Langmuir probe analysis, that there are three distinct groups of electrons generated during first the 4 microseconds of the HiPIMS pulse. These electrons are super-thermal or beam-like electrons with effective temperatures of up to 100 eV, hot electrons with temperatures up to 7 eV and cold electrons with temperatures

Item Type: Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy)
Additional Information: Date: 2012-09 (completed)
Uncontrolled Keywords: "high power impulse magnetron sputtering", "HiPIMS", "plasma diagnostic", "retarding field analyser"
Subjects: ?? TK ??
Divisions: Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Computer Science
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 17 Jan 2013 11:09
Last Modified: 16 Dec 2022 04:37
DOI: 10.17638/00007495
Supervisors:
  • Bradley, James
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/7495