Investigation of the erosion characteristics of cathodes with poor conductivity in cathodic vacuum arc plasma sources

Summary form only given, as follows. A metal vacuum arc discharge is an effective technique for thin film deposition or ion implantation. Cathode materials such as Fe, Al, Ti, Cu and W are commonly used to produce plasmas. The vacuum arc is ignited by a high-voltage trigger near the end of the cathode and the main arc builds up between the cathode and anode. Non-uniform burning has been observed on the cathode surface, and it is particularly severe for materials with low conductivity such as Si and Ge. As an arc source, non-irregular cathode erosion can cause unintentional increase of the arc voltage and critically impact the arc ignition stability In this work, the surface erosion of poorly conducting cathode materials is investigated using a variety of operation parameters and cathode to anode geometries. Our results show that adjusting the arc pulse duration and the configuration of the extraction hole of the anode can optimize surface erosion and stabilize the arc performance.