title: Monitoring the thin film formation during sputter deposition of vanadium carbide.
abstract: The thin film formation of magnetron sputtered polycrystalline coatings was monitored by in situ X-ray reflectivity measurements. The measured intensity was analyzed using the Parratt algorithm for time-dependent thin film systems. Guidelines for the on-line interpretation of the data were developed. For thick coatings, the experimental resolution needs to be included in the data evaluation in order to avoid misinterpretations. Based on a simple layer model, the time-dependent mean electron density, roughness and growth velocity were extracted from the data. As an example, the method was applied to the hard coating material vanadium carbide. Both instantaneous and slowly varying changes of the coating could be detected. It was shown that the growth velocity is proportional to the DC power. Significant changes of the microstructure induced by the working gas pressure are mainly driven by the chemical composition.
authors.affiliation: ANKA/Institut für Photonenforschung und Synchrotronstrahlung, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Marthe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaufholz
authors.affiliation: ANKA/Institut für Photonenforschung und Synchrotronstrahlung, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Bärbel
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.affiliation: ANKA/Institut für Photonenforschung und Synchrotronstrahlung, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Sunil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kotapati
authors.affiliation: ANKA/Institut für Photonenforschung und Synchrotronstrahlung, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Köhl
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Miguel F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Mantilla
authors.affiliation: Institut für Angewandte Materialien - Angewandte Werkstoffphysik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stüber
authors.affiliation: Institut für Angewandte Materialien - Angewandte Werkstoffphysik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ulrich
authors.affiliation: Laboratorium für Elektronenmikroskopie, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Laboratorium für Elektronenmikroskopie, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Dagmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gerthsen
authors.affiliation: ANKA/Institut für Photonenforschung und Synchrotronstrahlung, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Tilo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baumbach
keywords: composite; in situ X-ray reflectivity; sputter deposition