Pulsed vacuum arc deposition of multilayers in the nanometer range

Nanoscale thin films and multilayers were fabricated by pulsed deposition of single and double vacuum arcs. Vacuum arc plasma sources for particle-free multilayers were coupled with non-magnetic filters to prevent macroparticle transport and contamination of the films. Waveforms of pulsed cathodic arc current and voltage during deposition were monitored using an oscilloscope. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results indicate that smooth, well-defined layers are formed with reasonably small interface widths.