Boron-rich plasma of high current pulsed vacuum arc with lanthanum hexaboride cathode

Boron plasmas are widely used in various ion beam and plasma technologies, including semiconductor ion doping. Of interest is also its use for deposition of hard coatings and surface modification to enhance the performance and lifetime of machine parts and tools. The paper reports on the generation of boron-rich plasma in a short high-current pulsed vacuum arc with a lanthanum hexaboride cathode, presents time-of-flight data on its mass-charge state, and discusses the influence of the arc parameters on the ion constitution of the boron-rich plasma.