Enhanced ionization sputtering: A concept for superior industrial coatings

High power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) is a technical description of a coating approach that utilizes enhanced ionized sputtering. HIPIMS pulsing can be performed in a large number of ways resulting in widely different plasma conditions, causing inconsistency and lack of repeatability of results. The present paper discusses this issue and suggests two important parameters that, once defined, could bring more consistency to the HIPIMS process, namely magnetic field strength and unbalance, and pulsing configuration. As illustrative examples, the effects of the pulsing and the magnetic field configurations on the growth and the properties of CrN coatings are presented. The methodology used to optimize the HIPIMS conditions is then implemented during the deposition of TiN for hard coating applications, which are then compared to state-of-the-arc arc evaporated TiN. It is shown that application-specific process-designed HIPIMS can result in superior coatings. The paper argues that the proper use of HIPIMS could only be when the sought results as well as the HIPIMS configuration are well defined.