New Method for Synthesis of Hard Coatings Using Pulsed Bombardment with High-Energy Gas Atoms

Abstract

For deposition of hard coatings is used a source of metal atoms accompanied by high-energy gas atoms. The metal atoms are produced due to sputtering a flat rectangular target in low pressure magnetron discharge. The gas atoms with energy up to 30 keV are produced due to charge exchange collisions of accelerated ions in space charge sheaths near the surfaces of a grid parallel to the target. The ions are extracted from the discharge plasma and accelerated by high-voltage pulses applied to the grid. The metal atoms pass through the grid and deposit on the products. Conjunction of their trajectories with those of gas atoms bombarding the growing coating allows synthesis of the coatings on rotating dielectric products. Mixing by high-energy gas atoms of the coating atoms and atoms of the product material in its surface layer improves the coating adhesion.