Study of Adjustable Clamped Pulsed Power Supply

This study investigates the concept of adjustable clamped pulsed power supply. Plasma sputtering is a physical vapor deposition technique applied in various fields. The plasma sputtering process uses a pulsed power supply to solve the problem of arcing. During the plasma sputtering process, the pulsed power supply is required to cycle through several different modes. Therefore, research is conducted to achieve a single supply capable of each of the modes and quality of power required in this process. A conventional pulsed power supply solves only the arcing problem. However, in the full plasma sputtering process, the power supply must also operate separately in a deposition mode and an ionization mode, and each mode requires different power supply characteristics. Accordingly, this study investigates an adjustable clamped pulsed power supply, which facilitates separate ionization and deposition modes through an additional clamping circuit. The operation of the proposed clamped pulsed power supply is confirmed via simulations and experiments. © 2021, The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers.