Gas injection as a tool for plasma process control during coating deposition

The paper describes the effects of utilizing pulse valves for dosing a plasma forming gas supplied directly to the plasma source. The concept of exploiting such valves as actual controllers of the plasma process replacing the ignitrons-spark switch valves used up to now has been practically verified in the technology of TIN layers manufactured by impulse plasma deposition (IPD) method. The TiN layers manufactured at modified plasma pulse generation conditions on unheated cutting tools made it possible to increase the cutting lifetime by a factor of up to twenty. The interpretation suggests that this increase is likely to result from lower energy dissipation for intermolecular collisions because of an increased mean free path. On the basis of positive results of research related to IPD method, the method of plasma excitation through an injection of plasma-forming gas has been applied in conditions of magnetron sputtering (gas injection magnetron sputtering, GIMS). GIMS applied as a material source with a single magnetron has been used for formation of AIN layers on silicon substrates. Electronic examination of MIS structures with such thin AIN layer demonstrated potentially advantageous structural properties of such layers in the context of their application in the design of electronic devices, e.g. as gate insulator layers. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.