Development of metal vapor vacuum arc ion source in Thailand

A metal vapor vacuum arc (MEVVA) ion source has been constructed and installed at Chiang Mai University. The cathode–insulator–trigger electrode system and the cooling efficiency were found to be reliable during the source operation (without the cathode-insulator replacement), with total number of pulses of approximately 3×105 and with the repetition rate of up to 5.5 pps at 200 A arc current. The main arc and plasma ion current–voltage characteristics have been measured. The maximum plasma ion saturation current obtained at 3 cm distance from the cathode was approximately 6 A and the coefficient of transformation of the arc current to the ion current was found to approach 3%. Preliminary experiments with copper film deposition on some dielectric substrates are discussed.