Recent Progress in Development New Generation Erosion Plasma Sources

This is a brief review of the current status of study and progress in devices for a new generation of plasma-dynamic tools based on combining a vacuum-arc plasma source with an axially symmetric cylindrical electrostatic plasma-optical lens into a single device. The combined system operates using the basic plasma-optical principles of magnetic electron isolation and equipotentialization along magnetic field lines and could be attractive for many practical applications of high current, moderate energy plasma sources of heavy metal ions and electrons. The hardware is relevant to processing equipment using dense cleaned plasma streams for the synthesis of coatings and thin films with given functional properties. A combination of the plasma lens with vacuum-arc ion plasma sources like the MEVVA allows control of low-energy dense plasma flow from the cathode spot region toward the substrate (for film deposition) or toward an extraction system (for ion beam generation). The application of the plasma lens for the transport of low-energy plasma is shown to improve plasma delivery to a substrate and provide microdroplet evaporation and elimination by fast electrons within the lens region. These results open up a new and attractive way for further development and application of erosion plasma sources for the synthesis of functional coatings, as well as for the creation of upgraded vacuum-arc ion sources with improved characteristics.