Balancing incident heat and ion flow for process optimization in plasma based ion implantation

Plasma based ion implantation at elevated temperatures is a technology often used to obtain thick surface layers of several μm by thermally activated diffusion, e.g. nitrogen in steel, titanium or aluminium. By lowering the pulse voltage at constant temperature, the current density can be increased at a constant heat flow. However, an upper limit is given by the ratio of the diffusion rate transporting the implanted ions from the surface towards the bulk and the sputter yield. This sputtering of the surface dominates for very high current densities and limits the maximum achievable layer thickness. Different maximum current densities were found for the four investigated systems - nitrogen in different steel grades, aluminium and titanium, as well as oxygen in titanium - reflecting the varying diffusivities. Additional requirements, besides the maximum current density, as a conformal treatment for complex objects containing small holes or trenches, as well as short heating times, can be solved most effectively by pulsed voltages in the range of 2-5 kV and an additional heating of the sample. The problem of a sample cooling time of several hours after the treatment is recognized. A partial solution would be to increase the gas pressure during the cooling phase for a more effective heat dissipation. (author)