Some Vacuum-Arc-Based Plasma and Ion Beam Tools for Surface Modification

Authors: Brown I.

Annotation: Vacuum arc discharges provide a copious supply of dense metal plasma, and this kind of plasma source has gained wide acceptance as a standard laboratory tool. Plasmas can be formed from virtually all of the solid metals of the Periodic Table as well as carbon, and by admitting a controlled flow of gas into the arc region hybrid gas/metal plasmas can be formed also. This plasma formation mechanism has been incorporated within an ion source configuration to provide a means for generating energetic high current beams of metal ions – the metal vapor vacuum arc ion source. Here we describe four specific embodiments of the vacuum arc plasma source for the surface modification of materials – plasma deposition of thin films; metal ion implantation; plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition; and implantation using the «inverted ion source» concept.

Keywords: vacuum arc, metal plasma, surface modification, ion implantation