Plasma ion implantation technology at Hughes Research Laboratories

The plasma ion implantation (PII) project at Hughes Research Laboratories (HRL) has as its main objective the evaluation and application of PII technology to improve the tribological properties of metal and nonmetal materials used in aerospace, defense, and commercial applications. The HRL PII facility consists of a 4-ft-diamx8-ft-long vacuum chamber capable of implanting objects weighing up to 7000 lbs, and a high-power (100-kW), high-voltage (100-kV) pulse modulator to provide voltage pulses for implantation. Advanced plasma sources have been developed to produce atomic, as well as molecular, nitrogen and oxygen ions, and PII processes have been developed to treat metal and nonmetal materials. The HRL PII facility has been operational since 1989 and has been used for prototype demonstrations of PII technology to achieve (1) a 2--3x improved wear life of Co/WC drill bits used for printed-wiring-board fabrication, (2) an 8x reduced wear rate for TiN-coated cutting tools, and (3) a 2x increased surface hardness for a 7000-lb polymer object, 3 ft by 5 ft by 1 ft