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2002
Conference Paper
Titel
Plasma-activated electron beam high-rate PVD for large areas
Abstract
PVD coatings deposited by electron beam (EB) evaporation onto large area sub-strates like metal strips or plastic webs have been used for many years. Recently developed plasma-activated technologies open new chances for a broader ap-plication of PVD. High-rate evaporation, especially by electron beams generated with axial guns, is the most useful PVD process for low cost coating onto large areas. Depending on the application the deposition cost can remarkably be re-duced by increasing of the deposition rate. The combination of evaporation with powerful plasma gives the possibility to influence the layer properties in a wide range. In the paper an overview about such emergent PVD technologies will be presented. The influence of the plasma parameters on the layer proper-ties was investigated and will be demonstrated for some special applications. For instance dense Ti or Cr layers used for corrosion protection were produced with rates up to 2 µm/s by EB evaporation in combination with a spotless cathodic vacuum arc discharge. Low abrasion behavior of the surface of plastic sheets can be achieved by deposition of hard oxide layers. In this case intensive plasma activation by a hollow cathode arc discharge is a must to get stoichiometric and hard layers. The new coating technologies and the necessary equipment will be depicted.