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Review of Scientific Instruments / Volume 77 / Issue 2 / REVIEW ARTICLE

Rev. Sci. Instrum. 77, 021101 (2006); doi:10.1063/1.2169539 (15 pages)

Vacuum arc deposition devices

R. L. Boxman and V. N. Zhitomirsky

Electrical Discharge and Plasma Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, P.O. Box 39040, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel

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(Received 10 October 2005; accepted 31 December 2005; published online 14 February 2006)

The vacuum arc is a high-current, low-voltage electrical discharge which produces a plasma consisting of vaporized and ionized electrode material. In the most common cathodic arc deposition systems, the arc concentrates at minute cathode spots on the cathode surface and the plasma is emitted as a hypersonic jet, with some degree of contamination by molten droplets [known as macroparticles (MPs)] of the cathode material. In vacuum arc deposition systems, the location and motion of the cathode spots are confined to desired surfaces by an applied magnetic field and shields around undesired surfaces. Substrates are mounted on a holder so that they intercept some portion of the plasma jet. The substrate often provides for negative bias to control the energy of depositing ions and heating or cooling to control the substrate temperature. In some systems, a magnetic field is used to guide the plasma around an obstacle which blocks the MPs. These elements are integrated with a deposition chamber, cooling, vacuum gauges and pumps, and power supplies to produce a vacuum arc deposition system.

© 2006 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. THE VACUUM ARC AND ITS PRODUCTION OF PLASMA AND MACROPARTICLES
    1. The cathode spot and cathode spot plasma jets
    2. Plasma production at the anode
  3. CATHODE DESIGN
    1. Cathode spot control
    2. Arc ignition
    3. Control of the cathode temperature
    4. Cathode materials, fabrication, and location
  4. ANODE DESIGN
    1. Passive anodes
    2. Active anodes
      1. HAVA
      2. HRAVA
  5. MACROPARTICLE CONTROL
  6. SUBSTRATE CONTROL AND FIXTURING
  7. PLUMBING
    1. Deposition chambers
    2. Vacuum pumps and gauges
    3. Gas flow control
  8. POWER SUPPLIES
    1. Arc current
    2. Substrate bias
  9. SYSTEM INTEGRATION AND HYBRID SYSTEMS
  10. DISCUSSION

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

vacuum arcs, plasma deposition, plasma sources, electrodes, plasma-wall interactions, plasma jets

PACS

  • 52.80.Mg

    Arcs; sparks; lightning; atmospheric electricity

  • 52.80.Vp

    Discharge in vacuum

  • 52.77.Dq

    Plasma-based ion implantation and deposition

  • 52.50.Dg

    Plasma sources

  • 52.40.Hf

    Plasma-material interactions; boundary layer effects

ARTICLE DATA

Permalink
http://link.aip.org/link/doi/10.1063/1.2169539

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN:

0034-6748 (print)  
1089-7623 (online)

Publisher:

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

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