Plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD) of titanium nitride is mo
stly performed with pulsed d.c. glow discharges using titanium tetrachlorid
e as a component of the feed stock gas. Recent investigations of the dynami
cs of such discharges have shown that, in large reactors under certain load
ing conditions, the spreading of the discharge is slow, reaching some parts
of the reactor with substantial delay. The result is a non-uniform plasma
power density in front of the substrates as well as a spatially varying exp
osure time of the surface to the plasma. The present study investigates the
possibility of improving the ignition and spreading behavior of the discha
rge by the use of additional synchronized short high voltage pulses. The po
sition of the high voltage pulse was varied between 2 mus before and 15 mus
after the leading edge of the conventional pulse. Peak voltages up to -160
0 V with a duration of 440 ns were used. It turned out that the superpositi
on of short high voltage pulses with a peak voltage of -1300 V at the begin
ning of the conventional pulses (independent of the exact position) enabled
an immediate ignition and spreading of the discharge across the reactor, e
nsuring time-independent and uniform discharge conditions. (C) 2001 Elsevie
r Science B.V. All rights reserved.