High-Flux, Low Energy, Ion Source for High Rate Ion-Assisted Deposition of Hard Coatings

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High-Flux, Low Energy, Ion Source for High Rate Ion-Assisted Deposition of Hard Coatings--PlasmaQuest, Inc., 850 North Dorothy Drive, Suite 504, Richardson, TX 75081-2769; (972) 680-1811
Dr. Chris Doughty, Principal Investigator
Dr. John E. Spencer, Business Official
DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-97ER82459
Amount: $75,000

Hard coatings have many applications in the transportation, manufacturing and electronics industries, including, for example coatings for wear and abrasion resistance, and cutting tools and molds. The application of many hard materials of potential interest (e.g. cubic boron nitride, hard carbon, silicon carbide) require bombardment by high fluxes of energetic particles during growth to produce high quality films. While plasma deposition processes are widely used, none is satisfactory for these materials and applications because of high cost and lack of precise deposition control. This project is to develop a high-density plasma ion source suitable for high-rate deposition of hard coatings over large areas. The ion source will be based on permanent magnet electron cyclotron technology in order to reduce cost. This source should be capable of generating uniform high-density plasmas over a 14 in. diameter region. Phase I will concentrate on the design, development, and demonstration of the plasma ion source. This phase will demonstrate the deposition process, but would not concentrate on deposition of hard coatings. Phase II will focus on ion-enhanced deposition of films such as cubic boron nitride, C3 N4, fluorinated hard carbon films and diamond like carbon.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: This source would not only enable novel processes, but act as a link between laboratory and commercial application of ion assisted, hard coating deposition processes. As such, it has large benefits for the huge range of industries where hard coatings play a pivotal role, from cutting tools to magnetic disk media and heads.