ON THE TRANSPORT PHENOMENA IN HIGHLY IONIZED PULSED PLASMA DURING FeCuNbSiB THIN FILM DEPOSITION PROCESS

The transport of sputtered particles in a magnetron discharge is of considerable interest for optimizing the deposition technique with respect to both deposition rate and control of the thin film properties. The High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) is a relatively new sputtering-based ionized physical vapor deposition technique with high density and high ionization degree of sputtered atoms which offers favorable conditions for better control and high-quality growing of thin films. Operating the HiPIMS in short pulse mode allows increasing the deposition rate due to the reduced gas rarefaction effect and reducing the ion back-attraction of the ionized sputtered material. Results concerning the spatial and temporal evolution of both the sputtered atoms density and plasma potential, the temporal evolution of the ion current intensity recorded by an electrostatic probe placed close to the substrate and the total positive electrical charge collected by the target and the probe during Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si15.5B7 thin film deposition process are presented. Most of the depositions and investigations have been made for a constant pulse voltage value of -1 kV, short pulse durations (4-20 mu s), 10 mTorr working gas pressure and 30 W average power.