Plasma behavior in vacuum coating using hot hollow cathode: a literature survey and proposal for experiment
As revealed in recent papers concerning sputtering deposition, the plasma behavior in a sputtering device is closely associated with its coating performance. The same may hold true for the hot hollow cathode (HHC) deposition. The plasma behavior of a HHC coating device seems to have received relatively meager research, however. A literature study has been conducted on the HHC coating technology, taking special consideration of the plasma conditions in the HHC coating chamber. As a result of this study, it is proposed to do two types of experiments, and try to correlate their results. The first type is the silver coating experiments using the voltage bias applied to the stainless steel substrates as an independent variable. The deposition rates and substrate ion current are to be monitored. The coatings obtained will be examined for their metallographic structure and the compositional depth profiling at their coating-substrate interfaces. The second type is the plasma characterization experiments, which include two different categories; the Langmuir (electrostatic) probe measurement of plasma characteristics, and the ion collector type of measurement to mass- and energy-analyze the ionic, and hopefully also the (energetic) neutral, species in the plasma. Both these categories will make measurement under HHC gun operation, with and without the evaporation of the evaporant metal silver. It is understood that the Langmuir probe study has a priority to the ion-collector category, since the latter has been done by the Japanese Ulvac group. The use of an auxiliary anode to enhance the plasma is to be investigated with both the coating experiments and the plasma characterization experiments (such as the Langmuir probe measurements).
- Research Organization:
- Rockwell International Corp., Golden, CO (USA). Rocky Flats Plant
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP03533
- OSTI ID:
- 5341638
- Report Number(s):
- RFP-3558; ON: DE84007907
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Hot hollow cathode and its applications in vacuum coating: A concise review
In situ plasma diagnostics study of a commercial high-power hollow cathode magnetron deposition tool