Electric and magnetic fields synergistically enhancing high power impulse magnetron sputtering deposition of vanadium coatings

The high power impulse magnetron plasmas (HIPIMS) were employed as a novel deposition technique, which had the benefit of providing a high ionization degree. In contrast, due to the ion return effect, the deposition rate was relatively low compared to the conventional direct current. In this paper, the external electric field and external magnetic field enhanced simultaneously the HIPIMS ((E-MF)-HIPIMS) to achieve higher deposition rate of the coatings. The vanadium coatings were deposited by the (E-MF)-HIPIMS at equivalent average target powers. The substrate peak ion current density measured in the (E-MF)-HIPIMS mode was increased by a factor of 4 to the discovered current density for the HIPIMS conditions when the anode voltage was set to 70 V. The enhanced ion flux bombardment from the highly ionized (E-MF)-HIPIMS plasma led to the formation of a smoother surface and a denser structure. At the same average target power for the vanadium coatings depositions, the (E-MF)-HIPIMS exhibited higher deposition rates compared to the conventional HIPIMS by approximately 73%. The (E-MF)-HIPIMS sputtered vanadium coating exhibited significantly higher-sized film and substrate interface bonding strengths than compared to the HIPIMS by the Rockwell adhesion testing. In addition, the (E-MF)-HIPIMS sputtered vanadium coating exhibited an improved friction coefficient and improved corrosion resistance compared to the substrate and the HIPIMS sample. The improvement occurred due to the enhanced particle ionization and intense ion bombardment.