Surface free energy of non-stick coatings deposited using closed field unbalanced magnetron sputter ion plating

Semiconductor IC packaging molding dies require wear resistance, corrosion resistance and non-sticking (with a low surface free energy). The molding releasing capability and performance are directly associated with the surface free energy between the coating and product material. The serious sticking problemreduces productivity and reliability. DepositingTiN,TiMoS,ZrN,CrC,CrN,NiCr, NiCrN, CrTiAlNand CrNiTiAlNcoatings using closed field unbalancedmagnetron sputter ion plating, and characterizing their surface free energy are themain object in developing a non-stick coating system for semiconductor IC molding tools. The contact angle of water, diiodomethane and ethylene glycol on the coated surfaces were measured at temperature in 20 8C using a Dataphysics OCA-20 contact angle analyzer. The surface free energy of the coatings and their components (dispersion and polar) were calculated using the Owens–Wendt geometric mean approach. The surface roughness was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The adhesion force of these coatings was measured using direct tensile pull-off test apparatus. The experimental results showed thatNiCrN,CrNand NiCrTiAlNcoatings outperformedTiN, ZrN, NiCr, CiTiAlN,CrCandTiMoS coatings in termsof non-sticking, and thus have the potential as working layers for injection molding industrial equipment, especially in semiconductor IC packaging molding applications