Plasma distribution properties of vacuum ribbon-like cathodic arc plasma fliter and Raman studies of diamond-like carbon films perpared by it

Abstract

As is well known, most filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition technology adopts filters with various geometries to remove macro particles in the last three decades, but almost all of them have a circular cross-section. Compared with the traditional toroidal duct filters, the rectangular graphite cathodic arc source can have a larger area which can be an arc source of a ribbon-like cathodic arc plasma filter, which has a higher coating efficiency due to its larger area arc source and may be more suitable for a larger scale industrial production. Thus, the research on the plasma distribution properties within the vacuum ribbon-like cathodic arc plasma filter is of great significance. In this paper, a rectangular graphite cathodic arc source is used to produce the ribbon-like cathodic arc plasma. Within the filter, a 90 curved magnetic duct with a rectangular cross-section is used as the arc filter. The ribbon-like cathodic arc plasma is transmitted from cathode to the deposition area along the magnetic line produced by external coils. A Faraday cup ion energy analyzer and a Langmuir probe are used to characterize the distribution properties of the filtered plasma at 15 places on the exit plane. Ion energies and ion density at these positions are obtained. For the special retrograde motion of the cathode spot on the rectangular target surface, the ion energies and ion density data are not stable. In order to obtain representative values, the net results are the average value of 3 measurements. Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films are deposited by the ribbon-like cathodic arc plasma filter at the same exit plane and their structures are characterized by Raman shift. To compare the distinctness of the 15 Raman spectrums, each Raman spectrum of the DLC films is normalized and shown in a figure. Meanwhile, the thicknesses of all the DLC films are measured by step profiler. Results show that the ion energies are of Maxwell distributions at all the 15 places on the exit plane. The ion energies vary from 0 to 60 eV, most being in the range from 20 to 30 eV. The arc voltage is 30 eV, which exactly coincides with the ion energies. While Raman spectra of the DLC films show an obvious correspondence relationship with the ion energies as well as the ion density and the DLC film thickness. The nano-hardness of the DLC films lies in a range of 25-43 GPa. Although the ion energies, ion density, DLC film thickness and nano-hardness are slightly different at different locations, they are not significant. Owing to the relatively evenly distributed properties of the ribbon-like arc plasma this may open great opportunities for a large area filtered arc deposition technique.