Theoretical and experimental study of the interaction of the vacuum arc macromacrodroplet fraction with plasma

This paper presents the results of theoretical and experimental investigations of the interaction of the macromacrodroplet fraction of a vacuum arc with plasma. The theoretical model proposed to interpret experimental data takes into account the charging of a macromacrodroplet in plasma, the energy exchange between the macromacrodroplet and the plasma, the breaking of a liquid macromacrodroplet due to its own excessive negative charge, and the reflection of a charged macromacrodroplet by the positive space charge layer, which appears near the negative electrode immersed in plasma. The model predicts a considerable decrease in the number of macrodroplets of size less than 1 /spl mu/m with increasing the negative voltage applied to the substrate. The theoretical results obtained are in rather good agreement with the experimental data on the separation of a macrodroplet fraction by a space charge layer.