Better thin film coatings using HIPIMS power supplies

High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS) is receiving increasing attention as a new sputtering technique. It produces high ionization percentages in the sputter flux. This can be used for film densification, surface modification, trench filling and other applications. Layers produced with HIPIMS show superior properties in many applications. The most investigated and promising HIPIMS application is for hard coatings in wear and corrosion protection (e.g., CrN or TiN). Another advantage of the HIPIMS process is the significantly lower heat transfer to the substrate compared to standard magnetron sputtering. This enables high rate coating even on temperature sensitive substrates as polymer foils. HIPIMS also significantly changes the hysteresis curve in reactive sputtering, offering much higher deposition rates of compound thin films. HIPIMS power supplies can be added to existing sputter systems with little or no system modification. This makes them very attractive as a way of extending process capability.