Advanced diagnostics of reactive HiPIMS plasma for deposition of oxide, nitride and sulphide layers

Research on reactive pulse sputtering (R-HiPIMS) is still in its infancy. The attention of the professional public is focused on the characterization of the deposited layers rather than on the detailed characterization of the deposition process. The aim of the project is therefore to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between the methods of HiPIMS deposition process (metallic, transient, poisoned) and local plasma parameters, such as energy and flux of neutral and charged particles per substrate, density, temperature and electron distribution function, density of sputtered particles. The project is focused on the characterization of the HiPIMS deposition process in the deposition of oxide, nitride and sulfide layers using advanced and new diagnostic methods in order to influence the influence of the process on the properties of the deposited layers. The results of plasma characterization will be compared with the outputs of the theoretical model R-IRM. Significant attention will be paid to plasma instabilities, so-called beam instabilities, which accompany the HiPIMS process, and their effect on the deposition process.