Digital Timing Generator for Control of Plasma Discharges

Sammanfattning: This thesis report presents a new design of a synchronization unit for high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) applications used for depositing thin films. The proposed system is composed of two major hardware parts: a microcontroller unit (MCU) and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The control range of the new system is increased by at least ten times compared to existing synchronization unit designed by Ionautics AB.In order to verify the system and benchmark its innovations, several batches of the thin film have been deposited using the new technology. It is shown that HiPIMS with synchronized pulsed substrate bias can effectively improve coating performance. Pulsed substrate bias with user-defined pulse width and delay time is possible to use in the new control mode proposed by this master thesis work; Bias mode. As a result, this master thesis work enables users to flexibly control the HiPIMS processes.