Possibilities of influencing vacuum arc evaporation by time-dependent arc current

Ellrodt, M.; Mecke, H.

doi:10.1016/0257-8972(95)08345-6

Cited by 22 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…9 Ellrodt and Meche have described a pulsed arc evaporation process combining both dc and pulsed cathodic arcs that can provide enhanced stability at low currents and increase the spot velocity. 16 Keutel et al have also observed that the modified pulsed arc source can decrease the MP number and roughness of the films, 17 but the effects of other processing pulsing parameters such as duty ratio and frequency in pulsed arc source ͑including pulsed and modified pulsed arc source͒ have not been investigated in details. In this work, the modified pulsed arc source combining the dc and pulsed arcs was used to study the influence of the duty ratio, frequency, and current ͑dc and pulse͒ on the production and distribution of MPs and possible reasons are discussed in this article.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of pulsing parameters on production and distribution of macroparticles in cathodic vacuum arc deposition

Dai

et al. 2006

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

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The effects of pulsing parameters such as the duty cycles, frequencies, and arc currents on the production and distribution of macroparticles ͑MPs͒ were studied. A tunable pulsed arc power supply that could provide either direct current ͑dc͒ or pulsed current plus dc was used in the experiments. Copper and titanium were used as the cathodes, and glasses were used as the substrate. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and special image processing were utilized to investigate the MPs deposited onto the substrate. Our results illustrate the general trend that the MP density increases with higher dc but decreases with increasing pulsing frequency. There is no obvious relationship between the MP density and the duty cycle at high dc but the MP density obviously increases with the duty cycle at low dc.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of pulsing parameters on production and distribution of macroparticles in cathodic vacuum arc deposition

Dai

et al. 2006

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

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“…Frequently, the arc plasma extinguishes during the deposition process. [2][3][4] In dual plasma deposition involving both gaseous and metallic elements, the chamber pressure can surge significantly within a few seconds after the arc extinction 5 because a large amount of gas is bled in to react with the metallic ions in the cathodic plasma to produce the film. It is in practice very difficult to immediately adjust the gas flow after the arc extinction, and the sudden burst of gas may result in inhomogeneity in the composition and structure of the film.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automatically reigniting dc vacuum arc plasma source

Zhang

Chu

et al. 2002

Review of Scientific Instruments

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A spark reignition system designed and produced to enhance vacuum arc deposition is presented. The system, in which the metal arc can be automatically reignited so as to minimize film contamination, not only initially ignites the arc by means of a spark component, but also reignites the spark automatically when the arc is near extinguishing. This automatic reignition system can effectively curb the pressure fluctuations induced by arc extinction and thus enhance the deposition procedure.

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Investigations of the Cathode Spot Dynamics in a Vacuum Arc Coating Process

Ellrodt¹,

Kühn

1996

Contrib. Plasma Phys.

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Influence of cathode materials (Ti, Al, Cu, TiN), ambient gases (Ar, Nz, p = 0.1-1 Pa) and the arc current itself on the motion and the velocity of cathode spots in an arc coating process have been investigated with the help of a new high speed framing camera. It was found, that the cathode material causes different spot currents but in general the spot arrangement and the motion on the surface are similar. Surface contaminations due to ambient gases affect this dynamics in several ways. Insulating layers like AlN can drastically increase the instantaneous spot velocity, for example from <5 m/s on A1 up to 170 m/s on AIN contaminated areas. TIN layers with a high conductivity increase the spot mobility at first. But at nearly completely contaminated surfaces (simulated by a TIN cathode), the mobility is strongly decreased. The values change from an average velocity of 6.3 m/s with a diffusion constant of 54 cm2/s (Ti, 0.01 Pa) to 2 m/s and 6.4 cm2/s at TiN.The course of the instantaneous spot velocity during the spot splitting phase was investigated too. The instantaneous spot velocity of each of the two new spots originated from the starting spot is relatively high (30-40 m/s) within the first 50 p. The cathode material and the ambient gases are of slight influence in this phase. The movement is directed. In the further development the instantaneous spot velocity is decreasing to values under 5-10 m/s. The motion is now more and more random. Additionally it could be proved, that the lower stability limit for a stable discharge is strongly connected with the spot current, which depends on discharge conditions.

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Possibilities of influencing vacuum arc evaporation by time-dependent arc current

Cited by 22 publications

References 2 publications

Effects of pulsing parameters on production and distribution of macroparticles in cathodic vacuum arc deposition

Effects of pulsing parameters on production and distribution of macroparticles in cathodic vacuum arc deposition

Automatically reigniting dc vacuum arc plasma source

Investigations of the Cathode Spot Dynamics in a Vacuum Arc Coating Process

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