HiPIMS has been a hot topic in the PVD research for the past decade. HiPIMS utilizes a high peak of pulsed voltage to generate a high peak current and hence a power density. As a result, HiPIMS produces a high flux of metallic ions. In the thin film research and coating industry, a few questions often arise: What is the portion of metal ion flux vs. Ar ion flux? What are the effects of these ions on the film properties including the microstructure, coating hardness and coating adhesion? And what the type of sputtering, DC or HiPIMS should be selected? To address these questions, a comprehensive study was carried out, in which a planar magnetron was powered by a DC or a HiPIMS power supply at the same average power level. A W-filament and a discharge power supply were used to generate a global plasma to achieve the plasma enhanced (PE). Therefore, with the two power supplies and the PE on or off, four different deposition processes were conducted. Stainless steel samples were attached to a sample holder, on the center of which a hole was drilled so that a Hiden Analytical EQP was mounted to quantify the Ar and metallic ion species, ion flux and ion energy. A thick (15-20 µm) TiSiCN coating was deposited and analyzed using SEM, scratch test, nano-indentation, and X-ray technique (for internal stress). These results are correlated with the EQP results to obtain the understanding of these four different sputtering processes. The results clearly show that the HiPIMS process generates high fluxes of Ti+ and Ti++ ions, which lead to a high hardness with a high internal stress but a low scratch resistance. The PE+HiPIMS process reduces the stress, while the best coated was achieved with PE+DC magnetron sputtering (PEMS). This presentation discusses the detailed experimental procedures and coating properties. Aside from the drawback, some benefits of the HiPIMS process will also be discussed.

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