Gaedike, BastianGuth, SvenjaKern, FrankKillinger, AndreasGadow, Rainer2023-02-202023-02-2020212076-34171837280088http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:93-opus-ds-127515http://elib.uni-stuttgart.de/handle/11682/12751http://dx.doi.org/10.18419/opus-12732Optimized coating adhesion and strength are the advantages of high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) as an innovative physical vapor deposition (PVD) process. When depositing electrically non-conductive oxide ceramics as coatings with HiPIMS without dual magnetron sputtering (DMS) or mid-frequency (MF) sputtering, the growing coating leads to increasing electrical insulation of the anode. As a consequence, short circuits occur, and the process breaks down. This phenomenon is also known as the disappearing anode effect. In this study, a new approach involving adding electrically conductive carbide ceramics was tried to prevent the electrical insulation of the anode and thereby guarantee process stability. Yttria-stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) with 30 vol.% titanium carbide (TiC) targets are used in a non-reactive HiPIMS process. The main focus of this study is a parameter inquisition. Different HiPIMS parameters and their impact on the measured current at the substrate table are analyzed. This study shows the successful use of electrically conductive carbide ceramics in a non-conductive oxide as the target material. In addition, we discuss the observed high table currents with a low inert gas mix, where the process was not expected to be stable.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/670article2021-04-09