Publication details
Comparative study of titanium atom, titanium ion and argon ion fluxes at substrate in laboratory and industrial physical vapour deposition processes
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Peer-reviewed scientific article |
| Magazine / Source | Surface and Coatings Technology |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0257897226007863 |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2026.133934 |
| Keywords | Magnetron sputtering; DCMS; HiPIMS; Industry; Coatings; IMFF; QCM; Cathodic arc deposition |
| Description | Deposition conditions in laboratory and industrial PVD processes can differ significantly. However, these differences are rarely quantified directly at the substrate. In this work, the fluxes of neutral Ti atoms, Ti ions, and Ar ions were measured at the substrate position for four representative deposition conditions: laboratory DC magnetron sputtering, laboratory HiPIMS, industrial DC magnetron sputtering, and industrial cathodic arc deposition. All processes were studied under conditions representative of their practical use, capturing realistic laboratory and industrial operation, and a unified diagnostic approach was employed to enable direct comparison. The results reveal pronounced differences between the investigated laboratory and industrial conditions, as well as between individual deposition techniques. Under the investigated conditions, laboratory DC magnetron sputtering was characterised by weak metal ion bombardment and a neutral-dominated flux, whereas the investigated industrial DC magnetron sputtering conditions resulted in significantly higher ion fluxes. HiPIMS enhances metal ionisation, but still results in an ion flux dominated by Ar + ions, indicating that increased ionisation in HiPIMS does not necessarily lead to metal-ion-dominated bombardment. The investigated industrial DC magnetron sputtering conditions and laboratory HiPIMS conditions exhibit similar ionisation levels of sputtered species as well as similar particle-flux ratios at the substrate, highlighting an unexpected similarity in the resulting substrate bombardment conditions despite fundamentally different plasma excitation modes. In turn, processes of the same designation operated in laboratory and industrial environments do not necessarily result in similar conditions on the substrate. This necessitates direct characterisation of particle flux to understand the actual thin-film growth conditions and enable consistent comparison between different PVD processes. |
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