Ion energy measurements in vacuum arc deposition

In this paper, an electrostatic energy analyzer system is used to measure the ion energy in vacuum arc deposition. The results show that the ion energy remains almost constant while the arc current varies from 60 to 130 A, and decreases significantly as the gas pressure increases. It is also found that the ion energy has an equiangular distribution. Furthermore, the combined ion parameter is investigated. When the arc current is 100 A, the pressure is 0.66 Pa and the bias is -100 V, the typical maximum ion energy is 75 eV, and combined ion parameter is 828 eV/atom.