Publicado

2018-01-01

Study of the plasma behavior produced by a vacuum arc discharge for different cathode materials

Estudio del comportamiento del plasma producido en una descarga de arco en vacío para diferentes materiales del cátodo

Palabras clave:

modeling, arc discharge, plasma static behavior, cathode material (en)
modelamiento, descarga de arco, comportamiento estacionario del plasma, material del cátodo (es)

Autores/as

Plasma-assisted techniques have been widely used for deposition of high quality thin films and metallurgical coatings. The glow plasma produced in the region between the electrodes and the chamber wall of a cathodic arc was modeled. The plasma behavior was characterized for different cathode materials that are commonly used in a cathodic arc deposition. The electron temperature, density, and electric potential were found to decrease as function of the distance from the spot region. However, the ion kinetic energy tends to increase due to the acceleration of the ions coming from the bulk region. Our results show that the cathodic arc is not directly affected by the plasma potential of the glow plasma and that the cathode material has an important influence on the plasma behavior, mainly because of the electrical and thermal conductivity of each material.
Las técnicas asistidas por plasma han sido ampliamente utilizadas para la deposición de películas delgadas y recubrimientos metalúrgicos de alta calidad. La descarga luminiscente producida en la región entre electrodos y cámara de un arco catódico fue modelada. El comportamiento del plasma fue caracterizado para diferentes materiales del cátodo comúnmente utilizados en descarga de arco catódico. Se encontró que la temperatura electrónica, densidad y potencial eléctrico decrecen como función de la distancia desde la región de puntos catódicos. Sin embargo, la energía cinética del ion tiende a incrementar debido a la aceleración de los iones provenientes de la región central del arco. Nuestros resultados muestran que el arco catódico no es directamente afectado por el potencial del plasma de la descarga luminiscente y que el material del cátodo tiene una influencia importante en el comportamiento del plasma, principalmente debido a la conductividad eléctrica y térmica de cada material.

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