Instabilities of the reactive sputtering process involving one metallic target and two reactive gases

The present article considers instability phenomena during the sputtering of a single metallic target of titanium in a reactive atmosphere involving argon+oxygen+nitrogen gases. Since the process using two reactive gases is much more complex than one reactive gas, the transition zone of the reactive mode must be defined taking into account oxygen and nitrogen mass flow rates. A two-dimensional representation delimiting boundaries of the instability region and depending on both mass flows is proposed for radio frequency and direct current (dc) polarization of the titanium target. This diagram provides operating conditions favorable to deposit oxy-nitride coatings with a modulated oxygen or nitrogen composition. It is also shown that the supply of one reactive gas affects consumption and behaviors of the other gas as well as its own characteristics. A critical region is then defined in which the process is trapped in reactive mode and can not go back to elemental conditions by changing the mass flow rate of...

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