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H. Riedl, L. Zauner, Ph Ertelthaler, T. Wojcik, H. Bolvardi, S. Kolozsvári, P.H. Mayrhofer:
"Reactive HiPIMS deposition of Ti-Al-N: How to adjust the cubic to wurtzite transition";
Talk: 45th International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films (ICMCTF) 2018, San Diego, CA; 2018-04-23 - 2018-04-27; in: "Abstract Book 45th ICMCTF 2018", (2018), 45.

High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is often seen as one key-technology in the deposition of future hard and multifunctional coating materials. Through the introduction of high amplitude impulses at relatively low duty cycles, the amount of ionized species, either target near gas atoms or sputtered target atoms, can be increased drastically. These highly dense plasmas have various consequences on the film growth and hence coating properties, as well as on the sputter behavior of the target material itself. Applying reactive gas mixtures such as N2/Ar atmospheres, e.g. for the deposition of TiN coatings, lead to further complex effects within the plasmas (self-sputtering, gas recycling, or poisoning). However, several studies clearly highlighted the outstanding coating properties as well as metastable phases accessible, using HiPIMS compared to conventional DC magnetron sputtering, whereas a majority of these investigations concentrate on the plasma physics itself.
Therefore, we focused in this study on the reactive HiPIMS deposition of Ti-Al-N coatings using Ti1-xAlx compound targets (x = 0.50, 0.60, 0.66, 0.80) in mixed Ar/N2 atmospheres. The influence of the HiPIMS parameters such as frequency, pulse length, and power density, but also of the deposition parameters like partial pressure, deposition temperature, or total pressure was investigated methodically. The so obtained coating structures were analyzed with respect to phase stability, thermomechanical properties, and morphology applying nanoindentation, X-ray diffraction combined with electron imaging techniques (SEM and HR-TEM). In addition, to gain an in-depth understanding of the HiPIMS parameters on the used compound target materials a special in-situ target-temperature measurement system was utilized during all depositions (min. distance to sputtered target surface about 1 mm).

Project Head Paul Heinz Mayrhofer:
Christian Doppler Labors für anwendungsorientierte Schichtentwicklung