A novel metal ion source for preparing hard coatings

A novel metal ion source, Electron Beam Evaporation Metal Ion Source, has been developed for material modifications. This ion source is based on the electron beam evaporation technology. It can provide gaseous, solid or gaseous and solid mixed intense ion beams for preparing a variety of thin films. In this ion source, a focusing electron beam is used to bombard and vaporize the metal or other solid element within same chamber where the metal or solid atoms are ionized and plasma medium from which ions are extracted is formed by arc discharge. A small aperture diameter extraction system is used for extracting the ion beam from this source. Ion beams of a series of elements, which include C, W, Ta, Mo, Cr, Ti, B, Cu, Ni, Al, Ar, N, C+N, Ti+N, Cr+N, etc., have been extracted. The source has a 3.6 cm extraction diameter. The beam energy ranges from 0.3 to 4 keV for single charge state ions, and the maximum beam current extractable is over 90 mA. The source has been used for preparing hard coatings. The films of carbon nitride and titanium nitride have been synthesized by direct deposition with C+N and Ti+N mixed ion beams. The results have shown to exhibit very high hardness value for carbon nitride films. The microhardness is up to HK 5800 kgf/mm2. In comparison with other methods, it is also to exhibit higher hardness value for titanium nitride coating. The highest hardness value obtained for titanium nitride is about 3000 kgf/mm2. The AES profile shows that there is a good intermixture between coating and substrate for both films. The principle, structure and performance of this ion source will be described. The preliminary results for forming hard coatings are also presented in this article