Author:
Kolodko D.V.,Kaziev A.V.,Tumarkin A.V.
Abstract
The work is devoted to the study of the composition of ion fluxes originating from hot-target reactive HiPIMS plasma. Experiments were carried out for thermally insulated Si target. The HiPIMS discharge was operated in O2/Ar mixture. The component composition of ion fluxes from plasma was measured by a custom-built magnetic mass-analyzer as a function of the reactive gas flow. In the experiments, sharp changes in the ratio of fluxes of different ions were observed once the injected reactive gas flow exceeded certain levels. Nevertheless, in the HiPIMS mode, the dominant fraction of ions were those of the target material. Distinct SiO+ signal in the ion flux was found that implies intense evaporation of oxide molecules.