München 2019 – scientific programme

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P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik

P 16: Low Pressure Plasmas II

P 16.3: Talk

Thursday, March 21, 2019, 11:40–11:55, HS 21

Study of particle transport above the target in high power impulse magnetron sputtering plasmas using a marker technique — •Sascha Thiemann-Monjé, Marc Sackers, and Achim von Keudell — Ruhr University Bochum, Germany

High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) has established itself as one of the premier methods for depositing high-quality hard coatings. Nevertheless, the plasma discharge itself is not fully understood yet. Especially the potential structure of the so-called spokes, which are believed to be rotating instabilities and the particle movement inside the plasma are part of current research. Both affect the redeposition of particles on the magnetron target surface during the plasma discharge.

In this work, a marker technique for the analysis of the particle transport inside the plasma is introduced. The marker targets are made of 50 mm Al magnetron targets with a different metal in form of a cylindrical insert placed in the middle of the racetrack. The distribution of redeposited marker material on the surface is analyzed by spatially resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and combined with electrical and optical measurements of the plasma discharge.

It could be shown that the distribution of marker material contains information about the plasma discharge. Particularly correlations with the marker material as well as the discharge power were found. It was as well possible to find evidence for the assumed potential structure of the spoke phenomenon.