Highly Ionized Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering technologies are in their infancy with only about a dozen reports on the topic published worldwide, and yet they have been identified as one of the most important sputtering topics for the future. HIPMS uses short pulses of very high peak power, several hundred kW to a few MW, to create very dense plasmas between the vapor source and the substrate, up to 1.3X1019/m3 near the substrates. Proposed is the first US based HIPMS study that will focus on both the discharge formation and in-situ ellipsometric studies of early stage film formation, ion-surface interactions, and ultimately on the generation improved film morphologies and new metastable materials. Initial investigations utilizing these highly ionized fluxes will be undertaken to produce more conformal and adherent films under precisely controlled low-energy ion-assisted growth conditions on flat, as well as selected three-dimensional substrates. The materials selected for this study include metallic Cr, reactively deposited Cr-N based films and multilayers, as well as amorphous and nanocrystalline CrBN, and potentially Zr-Pd and/or Zr-Pt metallic glasses.
This HIPMS program will provide immediate gains for both academic and industrial users, as HIPMS technologies can be directly incorporated into existing magnetron systems on any scale. Magnetron sputtering is one of the most widely used techniques for producing thin films for semiconductor, tribological (wear resistant), decorative and other applications, ranging from the coatings on the inside of potato chip bags to thin films for sensor systems in critical defense applications. These technologies are also used in both the private and defense sectors to develop new materials, as they allow nanoscale tailoring of materials properties that control hardness, reflectance, electrical conductivity, magnetic behavior, chemical reactivity, etc... However, precise control of the energetics of thin film growth and coating of complex three-dimensionally shaped parts have been longstanding issues in magnetron sputtering, and HIPMS may provide a means of overcoming these limitations in many applications. Industry interest in the program, as well as involvement is high. The educational impacts of this project include undergraduate and graduate student training, community outreach, and collaborative research activities to enhance the experience of Nebraska students within a broader international research community. The investigators have consistently involved a large number of female and underrepresented students in their work, and are positioned to serve as role models for these students on an international level.
