Vacuum arc deposition as a complementary technology to laser processing

Vacuum arc deposition unifies the advantages of laser ablation and magnetron sputtering. The evaporation of the target in the arc discharge permits to deposit the refractory materials with a high rate. The evaporation products are highly ionized and the possibility exists to control the discharge with a magnetic field. The deposition rate, Rd, of Mo films produced by vacuum arc deposition on Cu and silica glass substrates has been studied. The target of purified Mo has been made by high-vacuum electron beam melting. Rd depends critically on the angle between the substrate and the cathode surfaces being maximal when they are parallel. The adhesion of the Mo coating to Cu is much higher than to silica glass substrate. Rd as high as 15 nm/s has been reached. Rd increases with increasing deposition power. It decreases with increasing distance from the cathode slower than in the case of magnetron sputtering. The microparticles forming by the vacuum arc evaporation incorporate in the layer during the deposition procedure increasing the deposition rate.