Synthesis of metal oxides by reactive cathodic arc evaporation

Abstract

In these investigations, an attempt has been made to correlate the deposition parameters of the reactive cathodic arc evaporation with processes at the surface of the composite Al—Cr targets and the nucleation and phase formation of the synthesized Al—Cr—O layers. The oxygen partial pressure and the pulsed operation of the arc current influence the formation of intermetallic phases and solid solutions at the target surface. The nucleation of the ternary oxides at the substrate site appears to be, to some extent, controllable by the intermetallics or solid solutions formed at the target surface. A specific nucleation process at substrate site can therefore be induced by the free choice of target composition in combination with the partial pressure of the oxygen reactive gas. It also allows the control over the oxide island growth at the target surface which occurs occasionally at higher oxygen partial pressure. This hypothesis is supported by the X-ray diffraction analysis of the layers as well as of the target surface.