title: Silicon etch with chromium ions generated by a filtered or non-filtered cathodic arc discharge.
abstract: The pre-treatment of substrate surfaces prior to deposition is important for the adhesion of physical vapour deposition coatings. This work investigates Si surfaces after the bombardment by energetic Cr ions which are created in cathodic arc discharges. The effect of the pre-treatment is analysed by X-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and in-depth X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and compared for Cr vapour produced from a filtered and non-filtered cathodic arc discharge. Cr coverage as a function of ion energy was also predicted by TRIDYN Monte Carlo calculations. Discrepancies between measured and simulated values in the transition regime between layer growth and surface removal can be explained by the chemical reactions between Cr ions and the Si substrate or between the substrate surface and the residual gases. Simulations help to find optimum and more stable parameters for specific film and substrate combinations faster than trial-and-error procedure.
authors.affiliation: nanotech@surfaces laboratory, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 , Dübendorf , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scopece
authors.affiliation: Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich , Otto-Stern-Weg 5, CH-8093 , Zürich , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Döbeli
authors.affiliation: nanotech@surfaces laboratory, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 , Dübendorf , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Passerone
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Nanoscale Materials Science, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Maeder
authors.affiliation: Center for X-ray Analytics, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neels
authors.affiliation: Oerlikon Surface Solutions AG, Oerlikon Balzers , Iramali 18, 9469 Balzers , Liechtenstein.
authors.forename: Beno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Widrig
authors.affiliation: nanotech@surfaces laboratory, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 , Dübendorf , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dommann
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Nanoscale Materials Science, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Oerlikon Surface Solutions AG, Oerlikon Balzers , Iramali 18, 9469 Balzers , Liechtenstein.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ramm
keywords: 212 Surface and interfaces; 305 Plasma/Laser processing; 40 Optical; 402 Multi-scale simulation; 503 TEM, STEM, SEM; 504 X-ray/Neutron diffraction and scattering; Adhesion; TRIDYN; filtered arc; magnetic and electronic device materials; metal ion etch; nucleation; surface binding energy