高功率脉冲磁控溅射是一种制备高质量薄膜的新兴方法。在相同的平均功率下分别采用HPPMS技术和传统DCMS技术在凹槽工件表面制备了钒薄膜。对比研究了两种方法下的等离子体组成、薄膜的晶体结构、表面形貌及膜层厚度的异同。结果表明:HPPMS产生的等离子体包括Ar(1+),V(0)和相当数量的V(1+);而DCMS放电时的等离子体包括Ar(1+),V(O)和极少量的V0+)。两种方法制各的凹槽不同位置处钒薄膜相结构的变化规律大致相似。HPPMs制备的钒薄膜表面致密、平整;而DCMs制备的膜层表面出现非常锐利的尖峰且高度很高,凹槽不同位置表面状态表现出较大差异。DCMs制备的钒薄膜截面表现为疏松的柱状晶结构;而HPPMs制备的膜层也具有轻微的柱状晶结构,但结构更为致密。HPPMS时的膜层厚度小于DCMS时的膜层厚度。与凹槽工件的上表面相比,DCMS时侧壁膜层的厚度为上表面的32%,底部膜层的厚度为上表面的55%。而HPPMS时侧壁的厚度为上表面的35%,底部膜层的厚度为上表面的69%。采用HPPMS方法在凹槽工件表面获得的膜层厚度整体上表现出更好的均匀性。
High power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS) is a novel tool to fabricate films with high quality. In this paper, vana- dium 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 At(l+), V(0) and a certain amount of V(I+). In contrast, the plasma produced by DCMS is composed ofAr(l+), V(0) and a very small amount of V(I+). Both films fab- ricated by HPPMS and DCMS demonstrate the similar microstructures. The HPPMS vanadium films are dense and fiat 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 thick- ness 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 va- nadium 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.