Optimization of a PIII&D System Using a Cathodic Arc with Titanium

M. FAZIO; A. KLEIMAN; D. G. LAMAS; D. GRONDONA; A. MÁRQUEZ

Santiago

Conferencia; ICPP-LAWPP 2010; 2010

A plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition (PIII&D) system was recently built at INFIP. A dc cathodic arc with a Ti cathode of 5 cm in diameter and an annular anode of 8cm in diameter was employed as the plasma source. The substrate chamber was electrically insulated and connected with the main discharge chamber through a straight magnetic duct. The discharge current was run at 100 A. The substrate was biased with a pulsed generator (30 kV, 30 A, 0.05 - 3 kHz) based on a pulse transformer controlled by IGBT switches. In this work the optimization of the process as function of the pulse parameters is presented. The characteristics of Ti coatings on steel substrates obtained varying the pulse amplitude from 2 to 12 kV and the pulse frequency from 200 Hz to 400 Hz were analyzed and compared with films grown without biasing the substrate. The thickness was determined weighting the samples before and after the treatment. The morphology was observed with an atomic force microscope. The film structure was studied by x-ray diffraction.