Production of a large area diffuse arc plasma with multiple cathode

An arc channel at atmospheric pressure tends to shrink generally. In this paper, a non-transferred DC arc plasma device with multiple cathode is introduced to produce a large area arc plasma at atmospheric pressure. This device is comprised of a 42-mm diameter tubular chamber, multiple cathode which is radially inserted into the chamber, and a tungsten anode with a nozzle in its center. In argon/helium atmosphere, a large area and circumferential homogenous diffuse arc plasma, which fills the entire cross section surrounded by the cathode tips, is observed. Results show that the uniformity and stability of diffuse arc plasma are strongly related to the plasma forming gas. Based on these experimental results, an explanation to the arc diffusion is suggested. Moreover, the electron excitation temperature and electron density measured in diffuse helium plasma are much lower than those of constricted arc column, which indicates the diffuse helium plasma probably deviates from the local thermodynamic equilibrium state. Unlike the common non-transferred arc plasma devices, this device can provide a condition for axial-fed feedstock particles. The plasma device is attempted to spheroidize alumina powders by using the central axis to send the powder. Results show that the powder produced is usually a typical hollow sphere.

Plasma diagnosis of tetrahedral amorphous carbon films by filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition

Filtered cathodic vacuum arc(FCVA)deposition is regarded as an important technique for the synthesis of tetrahedral amorphous carbon(ta-C)films due to its high ionization rate,high deposition rate and effective filtration of macroparticles.Probing the plasma characteristics of arc discharge contributes to understanding the deposition mechanism of ta-C films on a microscopic level.This work focuses on the plasma diagnosis of an FCVA discharge using a Langmuir dualprobe system with a discrete Fourier transform smoothing method.During the ta-C film deposition,the arc current of graphite cathodes and deposition pressure vary from 30 to 90 A and from 0.3 to 0.9 Pa,respectively.The plasma density increases with arc current but decreases with pressure.The carbon plasma density generated by the arc discharge is around the order of10^(10)cm^(-3).The electron temperature varies in the range of 2-3.5 eV.As the number of cathodic arc sources and the current of the focused magnetic coil increase,the plasma density increases.The ratio of the intensity of the D-Raman peak and G-Raman peak(I_(D)/I_(G))of the ta-C films increases with increasing plasma density,resulting in a decrease in film hardness.It is indicated that the mechanical properties of ta-C films depend not only on the ion energy but also on the carbon plasma density.

Optical and electrical properties of BaSnO_(3) and In_2O_(3) mixed transparent conductive films deposited by filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique at room temperature

For the crystalline temperature of BaSnO_(3)(BTO)was above 650℃,the transparent conductive BTO-based films were always deposited above this temperature on epitaxy substrates by pulsed laser deposition or molecular beam epitaxy till now which limited there application in low temperature device process.In the article,the microstructure,optical and electrical of BTO and In_(2)O_(3) mixed transparent conductive BaInSnO_(x)(BITO)film deposited by filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique(FCVA)on glass substrate at room temperature were firstly reported.The BITO film with thickness of 300 nm had mainly In_(2)O_(3) polycrystalline phase,and minor polycrystalline BTO phase with(001),(011),(111),(002),(222)crystal faces which were first deposited at room temperature on amorphous glass.The transmittance was 70%–80%in the visible light region with linear refractive index of 1.94 and extinction coefficient of 0.004 at 550-nm wavelength.The basic optical properties included the real and imaginary parts,high frequency dielectric constants,the absorption coefficient,the Urbach energy,the indirect and direct band gaps,the oscillator and dispersion energies,the static refractive index and dielectric constant,the average oscillator wavelength,oscillator length strength,the linear and the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities,and the nonlinear refractive index were all calculated.The film was the n-type conductor with sheet resistance of 704.7Ω/□,resistivity of 0.02Ω⋅cm,mobility of 18.9 cm2/V⋅s,and carrier electron concentration of 1.6×10^(19) cm^(−3) at room temperature.The results suggested that the BITO film deposited by FCVA had potential application in transparent conductive films-based low temperature device process.

Parametric Study on Arc Behavior of Magnetically Diffused Arc

A model coupling the plasma with a cathode body is applied in the simulation of the diffuse state of a magnetically rotating arc.Four parametric studies are performed：on the external axial magnetic field（AMF）,on the cathode shape,on the total current and on the inlet gas velocity.The numerical results show that：the cathode attachment focuses in the center of the cathode tip with zero AMF and gradually shifts off the axis with the increase of AMF;a larger cathode conical angle corresponds to a cathode arc attachment farther away off axis;the maximum values of plasma temperature increase with the total current;the plasma column in front of the cathode tip expands more severely in the axial direction,with a higher inlet speed;the cathode arc attachment shrinks towards the tip as the inlet speed increases.The various results are supposed to be explained by the joint effect of coupled cathode surface heating and plasma rotating flow.

Approximate Design of Alloy Composition of Cathode Target

An empirical formula for composition demixing analysis in cathodic arc ion plating using alloy target is established based on the concepts of average charged state and relative demixing parameter. The level of composition demixing effect is presented by demixing degree of one element. For binary constituent alloy target, the composition change trend in coating is discussed and the limit of demixing degree for each element is determined. The content of one element with higher average charged state gets larger in coating than in alloy target, at meantime, the content of one element with lower average charged state gets less. For each one of the two constituents, the less the atom percent in alloy target, the larger the difference of its contents between the coating and the target. For triple constituent alloy target, the content change of one element with moderate average charged state is discussed in detail. Its content in coating getting larger or less is determined by the combination result of the contents of the other two elements in alloy target. For a given content of the element with moderate average charged state in triple alloy target, the content deviation level of that element from coating to alloy target will be not larger than that using binary alloy target containing only that element and one of the two others. According to the wanted coating composition, the composition design of alloy target is easily deduced from the formula.

Composition demixing effect on cathodic arc ion plating

The composition demixing effect has been found often in alloy coatings deposited by cathodic arc ion plating using various alloy cathode targets. The characteristics of composition demixing phenomena were summarized. Beginning with the ionization zone near the surface of the cathode target, a physical model in terms of the ions generated in the ionization zone and their movement in the plating room modified by bias electric field was proposed. Based on the concept of electric charge state, the simulation calculation of the composition demixing effect was carried out. The percentage of atoms of an element in coating and from the alloy target was demonstrated by direct comparison. The influences of the composition change of the alloy target and the bias electric field on the composition demixing effect were discussed in detail. It is also proposed that the average charge states of the elements may be used to calculate the composition demixing effect and to design the composition of the alloy target.

THE EFFECTS OF NEGATIVE BIAS AND FLUX RATIO ON THE PROPERTIES OF TiN THIN FILMS FORMED BY FILTERED CATHODIC ARC PLASMA TECHNIQUE

The filtered cathodic vacuum-arc (FCVA) technique is a supplementary and alterna tive technique with respect to convendtional physical and chemical vapour deposi tion which can remove macro-particles effectively and make the deposition proces s at ambient temperature. In this work, high quality TiN thin films were deposi ted on silicon substrates at low temperature using the improved filtered cathodi c arc plasma (FCAP) technique. AFM, XRD, TEM were employed to characterize the T iN thin films. The effects of the negative substrate bias on the grain size, pre ferred crystalline orientation, surface roughness of TiN thin films were discuss ed.

Effect of pulsed bias on the properties of ZrN/TiZrN films deposited by a cathodic vacuum arc

ZrN/TiZrN multilayers are deposited by using the cathodic vacuum arc method with different substrate bias（from 0 to 800 V）,using Ti and Zr plasma flows in residual N 2 atmosphere,combined with ion bombardment of sample surfaces.The effect of pulsed bias on the structure and properties of films is investigated.Microstructure of the coating is analyzed by X-ray diffraction（XRD）,and scanning electron microscopy（SEM）.In addition,nanohardness,Young＇s modulus,and scratch tests are performed.The experimental results show that the films exhibit a nanoscale multilayer structure consisting of TiZrN and ZrN phases.Solid solutions are formed for component TiZrN films.The dominant preferred orientation of TiZrN films is（111） and（220）.At a pulsed bias of 200 V,the nanohardness and the adhesion strength of the ZrN/TiZrN multilayer reach a maximum of 38 GPa,and 78 N,respectively.The ZrN/TiZrN multilayer demonstrates an enhanced nanohardness compared with binary TiN and ZrN films deposited under equivalent conditions.

Friction and Wear Performances of Cathodic Arc Ion Plated TiAlSiN Coating under Oil Lubricated Condition

TiAlSiN coating was deposited on H13 hot work mould steel using cathodic arc ion plating（CAIP）. The surface-interface morphologies and phases of the obtained coating were analyzed using field emission scanning electron microscopy（FESEM） and X-ray diffraction（XRD）, respectively, and the morphologies, distributions of chemical elements and profiles of worn tracks were also researched using scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, energy disperse spectroscopy（EDS）, and optical microscope（OM）, respectively. The friction-wear performances of TiAlSiN coating under oil lubricated and dry fiction conditions were investigated, and the wear mechanisms of TiAlSiN coating were discussed. The experimental results show that the coating is primarily composed of（Ti, Al）N, AlTiN, and TiN hard phases, Si_3N_4 exists between the（Ti, Al）N crystal grains, increasing the coating microhardness to 3200 HV. The TiAlSiN coating has excellent performances of reducing friction and wear resistance, the average coefficient of friction（COF） of TiAlSiN coating under oil lubricated condition is only 0.05, lowered than the average COF of 0.211 under dry friction condition, the wear rate decreases by about 81.2% compared with that under dry friction condition. The wear mechanism of TiAlSiN coating under oil lubricated and dry friction conditions is composed of abrasive wear, fatigue wear, and abrasive wear, respectively. The internal friction of oil lubrication is a main factor of decreasing fatigue wear.

The Effect of Annealing under Non-vacuum on the Optical Properties of TiAlN Non-vacuum Solar Selective Absorbing Coating Prepared by Cathodic Arc Evaporation

TiAIN solar selective absorbing coatings which were deposited on 304L stainless steel using cathodic arc evaporation method were annealed under non-vacuum at different temperatures with different times. The optical properties （absorptance and emittance） of the coatings were measured by a spectrophotometer. It was found that, after being annealed for 2 hours at different temperatures, the absorptance of the coatings reached the highest value of 0.92 at 700 ℃ while the emittance got the lowest value of 0.38 at 800 ℃. When the coatings were annealed at 600 ℃ for 24 hours, the optical properties changed to 0.92/0.44 （absorptance/ emittance）. By measuring the structure, morphology, elements and surface roughness of the coatings, it was found that both the elemental composition and the surface roughness of the coatings changed as a result of annealing, and these changes caused the change of the optical properties of the coatings.

Influences of Bias Voltage and Target Current on Structure,Microhardness and Friction Coefficient of Multilayered TiAlN/CrN Coatings Synthesized by Cathodic Arc Plasma Deposition

Multilayered TiAlN/CrN coatings have been synthesized on stainless steel substrates by cathodic arc plasma deposition using TiAl and Cr targets.Influences of the bias voltage,cathode current ratio ITiAl/ICr,and deposition pressure on the hardness and friction coefficient of the coatings were investigated.The measurement revealed existence of two cubic phases,face-centercubic （Cr,Al）N and（Ti,Al）N,in the coatings deposited under various bias voltages except for the coating deposited at -400 V,which is amorphous.The hardness of the coatings was strongly dependent on the Itial/Icr ratio and deposition pressure,and reached a maximum of 33 GPa at an ITiAI/ICr ratio of 1.0 and a pressure of 1.0 Pa.The incorporation of the element chromium can reduce the density of pinholes in the coatings and assist the optimization of deposition conditions for high quality TiAlN/CrN coatings.

Influence of Bias on the Properties of Carbon Nitride Films Prepared by Vacuum Cathodic Arc Method

Carbon nitride films have been synthesized in a wide range of biases from 0 to -900 V by vacuum cathodic arc method. The N content was about 12.0-22.0 at. pct. Upon increasing the biases from 0 to -100 V, the N content increased from 15.0 to 22.0 at. pct which could be attributed to the knot-on effect. While the further increasing biases led to the gradual falling of the N content to 12.0 at. pct at -900 V due to the enhancement of the sputtering effect. Below -200 V, with the increasing biases the sp2C fraction in the films decreased, as a result of vvhich the I(D)/I(G) fell in the Raman spectra and the sp peaks also showed the decreasing tendency relative to the s peaks in the VBXPS (valence band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy). While above -200 V, the sp2C fraction increased and the films became graphitinized gradually, accompanying which the I(D)/I(G) rose from -200 V to -300 V and the Raman spectra even shovved the graphite characteristic above -300 V and the sp peaks rose again relative to the s peak. The carbon nitride films mainly consist of three types of bonding: CC, sp2CN and sp3CN bonds. In the first stage the sp3CN relative ratio rises and falls in the second stage, which corresponded well with the variation of the sp2C in the films. The subpiantation mechanism resulting from the effect of ion energy played an important role in deciding'the variation of the microstructure of the carbon nitride films.

Structure and Performance of TiC-containing Diamond-like Carbon Nanocomposite Coatings Deposited by Rectangular Cathodic Arc Ion-plating

TiC-containing diamond-like carbon （TiC-DLC） nanocomposite coatings were deposited by a rectangular cathodic arc ion-plating system using C2H2 as reacting gas. Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy analysis show that with increasing flow rate of C2H2, the structure of nanocomposite coatings changes from TiC nanograin-containing to graphite nanograin-containing DLC. The harness measurements show that the hardness decreases from 28 GPa to 18 GPa with increasing C2H2 flow rate. The scratch test show that a high critical load （〉40 N） was obtained and exhibited a good adhesion between the coating and the substrate. Wear experiment shows that the friction coefficient of TiC-DLC nanocomposite coatings decreases with increasing C2H2. A low friction coefficient of 0.07 was obtained at 480 sccm C2H2.

Plasma-Neutral Gas Structure in a Magnesium Cathodic Arc Operating at Oxygen Gas with Experimental Comparison

The plasma-neutral gas structure generated in a magnesium cathodic arc operated with oxygen gas at a constant current of 50 A has been investigated by employing a simplified one-dimensional fluid model. The model includes elastic collisions and charge-exchange reactions between metallic particles and gas molecules, and also generation and recombination of gaseous ions by electron impact. The distribution profiles of density and velocity of species along the axial direction were obtained at different background gas pressures （in the range of 0.7-3.0 Pa） by this model. A comparison with the experiments was made. At lower gas pressures, the depositing particles were mainly the metallic ions with a larger kinetic energy. As the gas pressure increased, the magnesium atoms with smaller kinetic energy acted as the dominant depositing species. Determined by the minimization of the system＇s total energy, MgO（100） or/and MgO（110） orientation appeared easily in the MgO films at lower gas pressures, and at higher gas pressures, the film preferred orientation was MgO（111）.

The Properties of the Rectangular Arc Ion Plating with Magnetic Filtering Shutter

A major obstacle to the broad application of cathodic arc plasma deposition is the presence of macroparticles. In this paper, the properties of the large rectangular arc ion plating with a magnetic filtering shutter system to filter macroparticles are studied. It is proposed that the macroparticles in the plasma beam are effectively removed with the magnetic filtering shutter system, and the quality of the deposited films is improved.

Deposition of Ti-AI-N Films by Using a Cathodic Vacuum Arc with Pulsed Bias

Ti-Al-N hard films have been prepared by cathodic arc deposition by using an unipolar pulsed bias.In the present study,Ti-Al-N films were deposited on stainless steel and silicon wafers.The deposition rate,micrograph,preferred orientation and composition were systematically investigated by usingx-ray diffraction（XRD）,energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy（EDX）, and a scanning electron microscope（SEM）.It is shown that substate bias duty cycle and frequency have a great effect on film structure.A simple explanation for the results is also presented.

STUDY ON COMPOSITION, MICROSTRUCTURE AND HARDNESS OF DLC FILMS BY VCAD

DLC super-hard films have been deposited on the substrates of single crystalline Si, pure Ti and stainless steel 18-8 by a method of vacuum cathode arc deposition (VCAD). The composition, microstructure and micro-hardness of the films have been studied in this paper. The results indicate that hardness of the DLC films is different on the different substrates. Hardness of the films increases with decreasing in surface roughness of the films. The maximum value of micro-hardness belongs to the DLC films deposited under the hydrogen pressure of 0.35Pa and the negative bias of 100V.

Development and experimental study of large size composite plasma immersion ion implantation device

Plasma immersion ion implantation （PI） overcomes the direct exposure limit of traditional beam- line ion implantation, and is suitable for the treatment of complex work-piece with large size. Pm technology is often used for surface modification of metal, plastics and ceramics. Based on the requirement of surface modification of large size insulating material, a composite full-directional PHI device based on RF plasma source and metal plasma source is developed in this paper. This device can not only realize gas ion implantation, but also can realize metal ion implantation, and can also realize gas ion mixing with metal ions injection. This device has two metal plasma sources and each metal source contains three cathodes. Under the condition of keeping the vacuum unchanged, the cathode can be switched freely. The volume of the vacuum chamber is about 0.94 m3, and maximum vacuum degree is about 5 x10-4 Pa. The density of RF plasma in homogeneous region is about 109 cm-3, and plasma density in the ion implantation region is about 101x cm-3. This device can be used for large-size sample material PHI treatment, the maximum size of the sample diameter up to 400 mm. The experimental results show that the plasma discharge in the device is stable and can run for a long time. It is suitable for surface treatment of insulating materials.

Thickness Dependence of Structural and Optical Properties of Chromium Thin Films as an Infrared Reflector for Solar-thermal Conversion Applications

The thermal emittance of Cr film, as an IR reflector, was investigated for the use in SSAC. The Cr thin films with different thicknesses were deposited on silicon wafers, optical quartz and stainless steel substrates by cathodic arc ion plating technology as a metallic IR reflector layer in SSAC. The thickness of Cr thin films was optimized to achieve the minimum thermal emittance. The effects of structural, microstructural, optical, surface and cross-sectional morphological properties of Cr thin films were investigated on the emittance. An optimal thickness about 450 nm of the Cr thin film for the lowest total thermal emittance of 0.05 was obtained. The experimental results suggested that the Cr metallic thin film with optimal thickness could be used as an effective infrared reflector for the development of SSAC structure.

Rapid solidification and metastable phase formation during surface modifications of composite Al-Cr cathodes exposed to cathodic arc plasma

A combination of both conventional and advanced high-resolution characterization techniques was applied to study the modified layers on the surface of three composite Al-Cr arc cathodes with identical nominal composition of Al-50 at.%Cr but varying powder grain sizes.The results revealed that the modified layers consist mainly of metastable phases such as Cr solid solution,high temperature cubic Al8 Cr5,supersaturated Al solid solution,and icosahedral quasicrystal.The metastable phase formation indicates that high cooling rates were involved during the solidification of molten material produced in the arc craters during cathode spot events.The average cooling rate was estimated to be 10^(6)K/s based on secondary dendrite arm spacing measurements and supporting phase-field based simulations.The formation mechanisms of the modified layers are discussed based on the obtained results and the current literature.