Temporal Evolution of the Ion Fluxes for Various Elements in HIPIMS Plasma Discharge

In our previously published paper, the life span of metal ions in high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) discharges was measured up to 5 ms from the start of the pulse. To investigate the influence of the ion mass, ionization energy, and sputter yield on the time evolution and life span of singly and doubly charged metal and gas ions in the HIPIMS plasma discharge, the most frequently used materials for thin-film deposition carbon, aluminium, titanium, chromium, copper, and niobium have been used. The ion energy distribution function of each material was measured using energy resolved mass spectrometry in time-resolved mode. The setup of themass spectrometer was the same for all materials. To investigate the influence of working gas pressure on the time evolution of ion fluxes, measurements have been performed at two pressures, 0.3 Pa and 3 Pa.