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= = = = = = = = = GENERAL EXPERI:\-tENTAL = = = = = = = = =
1F.CHXIQUES

Generation of Gas Discharge Plasma by an Arc Source

with a Cold Hollow Cathode
P. :\f. Scha nln, N. N. Km'al. a nd Yu. Kh . Akluuadeev
In,' l.il.w l' of H igh Currl'lI/. f;!e, 'l.m"ic.'. Siheri<lll Oil,;.•ion, Ru.<.<ian A"<ldl'my of SC;l'n,."".
f'~ AkodOl'kh<'Skiy V.i. 7iml.'k. 634055 Russ ill
e-mllil: .•d,,,,,i,,@op<'e.ha;,I'e.ru
Re"ei"N June 22, 2(114, in Iin_' fo rm, September 2K 2W4

Ahslrlld - The resull, fro,:" a study of a~ arc RIa,rna ,;{mrce wilh a ~"Id h"lIow cathode are presented. The
source generates plasma with a density 01 -10 0 em"- In a volume 01 -0.2 m- 'II discharge currents of up to
ISOA. an are d" eharge "po-rating vollage or J0--40 V. and a low pressure of 0.1- 1 Pa. The m" ti"n or the ,'at h"de
sp"t in rhe cm,>ed ele,tri, and magneric li.ekls inside the h"lI"w c' arhode ami the cath"de', spec'ial design make
u possible to eliminate almost completely the penetration of the Sputlered cathode material into the working
vacuum chamber.

l:-'l RO DUCTION
At present. low-pressure sources of gas disch arge
plasma wuh a high plasma density are widely used in
various technological processes: the efficiency of utili z-
ing a source depends on bOlh the pa ramete r, of the pro-
duced pla sma and the characteristics of the disch arge
system. To produce plavmus lnlargc vacuum volumes.
an arc disc harge is preferred. since tr allows h igh dis-
c harge currents to he attained in a co ntinuous d ischa rge
mode at low vo ltages and low pressures of the working
gas. However, in cold-cathode arc disc harges. e rosion
products of the cathode material in the form of atoms
and macroscopic drop lets travel from the cathode spo t
to the working reg ion. In certai n tech nolog ical pro-
cesscs. such penetration of the cathode mat erial. es pe-
cially by macroscopic droplets. is impermissibl e; there-
fore. various. so metimes complex methods for filtering
rnacrodroplets ou t of plasma have been develope d I 1--4 J.
In an arc discharge with a hollow cathode placed in
an a \ ial magnetic field [5. 6 J. the cathode spot operates
inside the hollow ca thode on its SIde surface , thereby
considerably reducing the nu mber of mac rod roplets
cntermg the hollo w anode. the role of which is played
by the wall , of the wor king vac uum chamber. However,
to prevent arc c losure ove r the insu lator surface to the
walls of the holl ow ano de in such 11 discharge system,
an arc arreste r havi ng a floating potential is used 15J.
The basic features of an arc d ischarge in crossed
magneti c and electric fields we re cons ide red in detail In
[6J. As was show n in tests , when this system ope rates
for a lo ng lime. there is ther mal damage to the organic-
dielectric surface tha t insula tes the cathode from the
hollo w anode . due to plasma penetrating into the gap
bel ween the hollow cathode and the arc arrester. When
a ceramic dielectric is used, it gets dusty wi th the ero-
sion products of the ho llow catbodc : this ca n lead 10
breakdowns bet ween the cathode and anode. In addi-
tion. whe n the ho le ill the arc arre ster co nnecti ng the
cathode and anode discha rge reg ions is large, pe ne tra-
tion of the droplet fraction into the wor king vacuum
chamber is obse rved.
Th is paper pres ents the resu lts from studies of
plasma sources with ho llow cathodes of different
desig ns that con tainno arc arrester,
DESIGN OF THE PLASMA SO CRCE
Figure I presents a ge neral sc hcmunc of a n arc dis-
charge with a ho llow ca thode. During a ll arc d ischarge
in crossed electric and magneti c fields. the ca thode spot
initiated hy a disch arge over the dielectric surface
moves circularly 0 11 the inner surface of the holl ow
cathode , Ion s and atoms o f the spu ttered ca thode mate-
rial setde un the ca thod e surfac e oppo sit e the cathode
spot. II is known [7J thatthe maximum number of mac-
rodroplc ts eme rge from the ca thode spot al an angle of
-300 to the cathode su rface : there fore. additional mea-
sures 10 prevent their arriva l at the hollow ca thode
shou ld be taken. This is achieved primaril y due 10 the
directtransit of macrodroplcts from the cathode spot to
the anode cavity.
Based on the above. we propos ed and stud ied a
design fu r a plasma source in whi ch the hollow cathode
co nsisted of two cyl indrical parts of differen t diame-
ters. The main ca thode had a diamet er D '" 110 rnm an d
a leng th L '" 200 rnm. while the diame ter d '" SO mm of
the addi tional ca thode connec ted to the main one was
equa l 10 the diameter of the arc arrester ho le. Thi s
allowed us 10compare the penetration o f microdroplets
into the anode cavity in different arrangements. The
lengt h of the additional hollow cathode was selected
experimentally on the basis of the conditions for stable
disch arge initiation and maintenanc e and the genera-

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