Study on vanadium films deposited on concave object by conventional direct current and high power pulsed magnetron sputtering

High power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS) is a novel tool to fabricate films with high quality. In this paper, vanadium films on concave object have been deposited by HPPMS and conventional direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) under the condition of the same average power. The plasma composition, crystalline structure, surface morphology and film thickness have been investigated. The results show that the plasma produced by HPPMS is composed of Ar(1+), V(0) and a certain amount of V(1+). In contrast, the plasma produced by DCMS is composed of Ar(1+), V(0) and a very small amount of V(1+). Both films fabricated by HPPMS and DCMS demonstrate the similar microstructures. The HPPMS vanadium films are dense and flat on the top surface while the surface of DCMS vanadium films presents very sharp peak with larger height. The DCMS vanadium films exhibit a porous columnar grain structure. In contrast, the HPPMS vanadium films have slightly columnar and denser structure. The thickness of the HPPMS vanadium films is less than that of DCMS vanadium films. Compared with the surface on the top, the thickness of the DCMS vanadium films is decreased to about 32% at the side wall and to about 55% at the bottom. However, the HPPMS vanadium films can reach a thickness of about 35% at the side wall and 69% at the bottom relative to that on the top surface. HPPMS shows a better uniformity in the film thickness on concave object.