  The growth rate during reactive high power pulsed magnetron sputtering
(HIPIMS) of titanium nitride is measured with a temporal resolution of up to 25
us using a rotating shutter concept. According to that concept a 200 um slit is
rotated in front of the substrate synchronous with the HIPIMS pulses. Thereby,
the growth flux is laterally distributed over the substrate. By measuring the
resulting deposition profile with profilometry and with x-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy, the temporal variation of the titanium and nitrogen growth flux
per pulse is deduced. The analysis reveals that film growth occurs mainly
during a HIPIMS pulse, with the growth rate following the HIPIMS phases
ignition, current rise, gas rarefaction, plateau and afterglow. The growth
fluxes of titanium and nitrogen follow slightly different behaviors with
titanium dominating at the beginning of the HIPIMS pulse and nitrogen at the
end of the pulse. This is explained by the gas rarefaction effect resulting in
a dense initial metal plasma and metal films which are subsequently being
nitrified.
