High power pulsed magnetron sputtering discharge behavior of various target materials

Great interesting is induced by high power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS) for its high ionization of the sputtered materials, while the complex discharge puts of its applications in industry. The HPPMS discharge behaviors of various materials with different sputtering yields (Cu, Cr, Mo, Ti, V and C) were studied. The discharges of all the materials show a phasic discharge characteristic of five continuous stages. However, the target voltage of the same discharge stage of the material increases firstly, and decreases then with the increase of the sputtering yields, exhibiting a missing of certain discharge stage. The statistics of the mean values, peaks and platforms of the target currents show that self-sputtering and stable platform happen easily to the materials with high sputtering yields which is suitable for the thin films deposition by HPPMS, whereas gas discharge is dominated in the discharge of the materials with low sputtering yields, which is difficult in the using of HPPMS. Additional, the target current is mainly contributed to the platform (metal discharge) to the materials with high sputtering yields and the peaks (gas discharge) to the materials with low sputtering yields, respectively.