The effect of biased plates on transport of vacuum arc plasma through rectangular curved magnetic filter

Abstract

Filtered cathode vacuum arc deposition can remove the macroparticles produced from the cathode. Positively biasing the whole filter or inserting a biased plate in the filter can increase the plasma transport efficiency. We developed a curved magnetic filter with rectangular cross-section to improve the coating efficiency. In this study, the effect of biased plates at outer-wall and inner-wall on the transport efficiency of vacuum arc plasma through rectangular curved magnetic filter was investigated. A Langmuir probe system is used to measure the distribution properties of the filtered plasma at 15 places in the outlet plane of the filter. The results showed that a positively biased plate at innerwall would increase the output ion current density and make the plasma concentrate to the middle of the outlet plane.