What is the working principle of cathodic arc ion plating?

First of all, the arc striking needle (anode) with positive potential is close to the target (cathode) with negative potential. When the distance between the anode and cathode is small enough, the gas between the two electrodes will be broken down, forming an arc current, which is similar to the arc striking of electric welding. At this time, part of N2 is ionized to form nitrogen cations and electrons.

Attracted by the electric field force, the nitrogen cation will fly to the cathode near the target, and the electron will fly to the arc ignition needle. However, the mass of the ion is far greater than that of the electron. Therefore, under the same electric field force, the movement distance of the electron will be greater than that of the cation. Therefore, when the electron reaches the anode, the ion will not reach the cathode target, but will fly to the arc ignition needle The positive ion accumulation layer is formed near the target surface.

The distance between the cation and the cathode target surface is very small, up to micron level. According to e = u / D, it can be seen that the electric field in the space is extremely high at this time, which will "pull" the electrons out of the target. The "pulled" electrons fly from the cathode target to the positive ion accumulation layer, forming a current. The stacking layer is connected with the target surface, and an arc is generated near the target surface.

At the same time, the positive ions will be attracted by the cathode target surface, which makes the positive ions bombard the target surface and produce sputtering. As the film particles either evaporated or sputtered need to pass through the positive ion accumulation layer,  and in the process of flying out of the cathode target surface, the film particles will be affected by the arc at the target surface, so most of the particles arriving at the workpiece are ionic state.

The negative bias voltage is usually applied to the workpiece, so the positive ions fly to the workpiece under the action of electric field force, and bombard the workpieceDLC Coating Machine Manufacturers. This bombardment will improve the adhesion of the film and make the friction dense, which is very beneficial to improve the quality of the film.

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