Properties of TiAlCN/VCN Nanoscale Multilayer Coatings Deposited by Mixed High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) and Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering Processes—Impact of HiPIMS During Coating

Nanoscale multilayer TiAlCN/VCN coating has been deposited by pure unbalanced magnetron sputtering (UBM) and high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS)–UBM techniques. The V+ HiPIMS etching used in both processes has shown excellent adhesion (Lc > 50) of the coating to the substrate. The plasma compositional analysis of V+ HiPIMS etching has shown high metal-to-gas ion ratio with ionization states of V up to 5+. Moreover, during the coating of TiAlCN/VCN, the plasma analysis has confirmed the higher production rate of metal ions in the case of HiPIMS–UBM in contrast to pure UBM. This has resulted to a denser closed columnar microstructure of the coating during the HiPIMS–UBM technique than UBM. A thermogravimetric analysis has shown increased oxidation-resistance temperature for coatings deposited by HiPIMS–UBM (≈780 ◦C) with significantly lower mass gain. The scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction studies of the oxidized surface of the coating have revealed the formation of lubricant Magneli phase oxides of V2O5 and TiO2 at elevated temperature. The wear coefficient of the coating deposited by HiPIMS–UBM has shown two orders of magnitude lower value than that for the UBM-deposited coatings, which represents significant advantage for coatings deposited by UBM. This enhanced performance in oxidation-resistance dry sliding wear conditions can be attributed to the extremely dense structure of the HiPIMS coatings, which could be promising in elevated temperature applications

Silicon Wafer Etching Rate Characteristics with Burst Width Using 150 kHz Band High-Power Burst Inductively Coupled Plasma

The high-speed etching of a silicon wafer was experimentally investigated, focusing on the duty factor of 150 kHz band high-power burst inductively coupled plasma. The pulse burst width was varied in the range of 400–1000 µs and the repetition rate was set to 10 Hz. A mixture of argon (Ar) and carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) gas was used as the etching gas and injected into the vacuum chamber. The impedance was changed with time, and the coil voltage and current were changed to follow it. During the discharge, about 3 kW of power was applied. The electron temperature and plasma density were measured by the double probe method. The plasma density in the etching region was 1018–1019 m−3. The target current increased with t burst width. The etching rate of Ar discharge at burst width of 1000 µs was 0.005 µm/min. Adding CF4 into Ar, the etching rate became 0.05 µm/min, which was about 10 times higher. The etching rate increased with burst width