THE INFLUENCE OF SUBSTRATE-TEMPERATURE ON THE PROPERTIES OF AL, ZR AND W COATINGS DEPOSITED BY CLOSED-FIELD UNBALANCED MAGNETRON SPUTTERING

Closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering (CFUBMS) is now recognise d as a technique capable of producing high quality industrially releva nt coatings. As a result of this, BNFL are undertaking a major project with the aim of fully characterizing a CFUBMS system. As a part of th is project, characterization studies have been carried out of the prop erties of Al, Zr and W coatings deposited by CFUBMS. Deposition parame ters, such as target current (over the range 2A to 8A), substrate bias (-30 V to -70 V), coating pressure (0.5 mtorr to 3 mtorr) and substra te-to-target separation (80 mm to 150 mm), were varied in a systematic manner, using experiments designed using the Taguchi Method. Substrat e temperatures were also measured, and were found to range from 200 de grees C to 360 degrees C. The coatings were analysed using X-ray diffr action techniques to determine grain size, micro- and macro-strains an d texture. Knoop microhardness measurements were also made. The relati onships between the deposition parameters, substrate temperature, and the subsequent coating properties were investigated. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.