Components for Coating Systems

The movement of the cathodic arc spots on the cathode has a significant influence on the process reliability and the effectiveness of the arc PVD process. Their targeted control is possible with the ProArc system ("programmable arc"). Particularly when large-area cathodes are used, the effectiveness and quality of vacuum arc coating can be significantly improved. This system offers significant advantages in particular with regard to:

• Cathode utilization
• Coating thickness profile and homogeneity
• Plasma characteristics
• Process stability

The control of the arc spot movement is realized via a programmable magnetic field and can generate different arc spot paths within fractions of a second.

Vacuum arc evaporators emit highly ionized plasma and microscopic particles (droplets) of the cathode material. For certain applications, these interfere and must be filtered out of the plasma. One possibility for filtering is offered by the lamellar filter.

A compact filter module was developed on the basis of a lamella filter. This combines geometric shading with electromagnetic plasma guidance. The lamellae are mounted in front of the cathode of the arc evaporator, so that the filter shields the evaporator from the substrate like a louver. Droplets emitted from the cathode stick to the filter. A current flow through the lamella creates a magnetic field between them and forces the arc plasma through the gaps between the lamellae. After passing through the filter module, it can form particle-free layers on the substrates.