Thin film deposition by S3p / HiPIMS
The Coating Competence Center operates an Ingenia S3p industrial sputter coater from Oerlikon Balzers for the preparation of highly dense and smooth thin films. Oerlikon Balzers's own HiPIMS technology S3p™ – Scalable Pulsed Power Plasma - is used and further developed to prepare new high performance coating.
Oerlikon Balzers Ingenia S3p
Some of the advantages of S3p
- Independent adjustment of pulse duration and power
- Pulse length beyond 100 msec
- 10x lower energy in arcs and ultra-fast arc detection
- Wider range of power density compared to «classical» HiPIMS
- Increased deposition rates
Coatings prepared by HiPIMS have typically better density and smoother surfaces than DC-sputter deposited ones.
Cross sectional view of a titanium film deposited by HiPIMS (left) and by DC sputtering (right)
