There is a need for developing synthesis techniques that allow the growth of high-quality functional films at low substrate temperatures to minimize energy consumption and enable coating temperature-sensitive substrates. A typical shortcoming of conventional low-temperature growth strategies is insufficient atomic mobility, which leads to porous microstructures with impurity incorporation due to atmosphere exposure, and, in turn, poor mechanical properties. Here, we report the synthesis of dense Ti_0.67Hf_0.33B_1.7 thin films with a hardness of ~41.0 GPa grown without external heating (substrate temperature below ~100 °C) by hybrid high-power impulse and dc magnetron co-sputtering (HfB₂-HiPIMS/TiB₂-DCMS) in pure Ar on Al₂O₃(0001) substrates. A substrate bias potential of −300 V is synchronized to the target-ion-rich portion of each HiPIMS pulse. The limited atomic mobility inherent to such desired low-temperature deposition is compensated for by heavy-mass ion (Hf⁺) irradiation promoting the growth of dense Ti_0.67Hf_0.33B_1.7.

需要开发合成技术，该合成技术允许在低基板温度下生长高质量的功能膜，以最大程度地减少能量消耗并实现对温度敏感的基板的涂布。传统的低温生长策略的典型缺点是原子迁移率不足，这会导致多孔微结构由于暴露于大气中而掺入杂质，进而导致不良的机械性能。在这里，我们报告了通过混合高功率脉冲和直流磁控共溅射（HfB）合成的，密度为〜41.0 GPa的致密Ti _0.67 Hf _0.33 B _1.7薄膜，无需外部加热（基板温度低于〜100°C）即可生长₂ -HiPIMS / TiB ₂-DCMS）在纯Ar中的Al ₂ O ₃（0001）衬底上。-300 V的衬底偏置电势与每个HiPIMS脉冲的目标离子富集部分同步。这种期望的低温沉积所固有的有限的原子迁移率通过重质离子（Hf ⁺）辐射得到补偿，从而促进了致密Ti _0.67 Hf _0.33 B _1.7的生长。