Industrial Cathodic Arc Deposition System

Industrial Cathodic Arc Deposition System

Introduction Application Specification Advantage Of Using Nanotechnology
Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) describes a variety of vacuum deposition methods in which, a solid phase, known as target, is transformed into a vapor phase and then deposits onto a substrate surface in the form of a solid layer. Changing and modification of the microstructure and composition of the deposited layer is possible.
Usually a thermal source is used to transform a matter from a solid to vapor phase. Indeed, except sputtering which is a non-thermal PVD method, all other PVD techniques are based on the use of a thermal source. In other words, PVD techniques are classified based on the type of employed thermal source and are as follows: electron beam, laser beam, cathodic arc and resistive heating. 
Cathodic arc deposition, known as Arc-PVD, is a high current, low voltage plasma discharge that takes place in a vacuum between two metallic electrodes; in this case, one of the electrodes is anode and the other is Target which acts as a cathode (with negative charge). The process is carried out at a pressure lower than 0.1 Pa (about 1 mTorr) and usually in a vacuum ranging from 10 to 0.1 mPa. The substrate temperature may vary from room temperature to 500 °C. 
When an electric arc strikes the cathode surface (Target), highly energetic emitting areas known as cathode spots are created onto the surface. The formation of cathode spots is a feature of vacuum arc discharge. The size and electric current density of these spots are about 1 to 10 micrometers and 106 to 108 A cm-2, respectively. The localized temperature at the cathode spot is extremely high and reaches to 15000 °C; therefore, these spots are responsible to generate plasma stream from the target (including atoms, ions and electrons). Afterwards, the vapor phase can move towards the substrate and deposit as a coating layer on it.
Furthermore, by applying a bias voltage to the substrate, the impact energy and velocity of the ejected ions from the target can be controlled. Thus, deposition rate in this technique can be adjusted with the aid of bias voltage. At the end, the vaporized material from the target condenses onto a substrate and forms a thin film. Since all PVD techniques are a type of so-called line-of-sight methods, the deposition of non-flat surfaces and inner walls of cavities or similar locations may be problematic. Therefore, in the absence of proper design, the coating process may result in a coating with non-uniform thickness and variable topographies.
Cathodic arc deposition is widely used to fabricate super hard coatings to protect the cutting tools surfaces and increase their lifelong. A wide variety of thin films, hard coatings and nanocomposite coatings including TiN, TiAlN, CrN, ZrN, AlCrTiN and TiAlSiN can be produced by this process.
Some applications of this method are as follows:
  • Nanostructured super hard coatings (TiN, TiAlN, CrN, ZrN, AlCrTiN and TiAlSiN)
  • Corrosion and wear resistant coatings on a wide variety of machine tools and drills
The Arc-PVD systems provided by this company are designed and produced in two different models. Details of technical specifications are presented in the following Table.
 
A wide variety of thin films, hard coatings and nanocomposite coatings including TiN, TiAlN, CrN, ZrN, AlCrTiN and TiAlSiN can be produced by Arc-PVD process
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