Optical Emission Spectroscopy Study of Magnetron Assisted Ni-Ti DC Sputtering

Abstract

Ni-Ti thin films where the R-phase transformation occurs between 55°C and 30°C, the peak temperature being 40°C, have been produced. These thin films have been grown using a magnetron assisted system of dc sputtering, with a Glow-Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy device. The OES technique has been used to investigate the spatial distribution of sputtered atoms from the cathode to the substrate in different operating conditions: Argon pressure of 5 and 9x10 – 4 Torr, without polarization and with – 60 V bias. Structural characterization of the thin films has been made by XRD and the transformation temperatures associated to the shape memory effect have been determined by DSC. A discussion of the optimization of the processing parameters (Argon pressure and polarization) is then presented.