Measurements of Deposition Rate and Substrate Heating in a HiPIMS Discharge

AbstractThe thermal energy flux delivered to the substrate position was measured for continuous‐dc, pulsed dc‐ and high‐power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) magnetron discharges at the same time‐averaged discharge powers. These values were subsequently normalised for measured deposition rates. Titanium coatings were grown under the same process conditions and analysed for alterations in crystal structure via X‐ray diffraction. The HiPIMS discharges were found to deliver a significantly lower normalised thermal energy flux to the substrate than both continuous‐dc and pulsed‐dc sputtering, which is of potential benefit in coating temperature‐sensitive substrates; whilst also enabling frequency‐dependent modification of film properties resulting from the ionised deposition flux inherent in this process.