An Ion Beam Sputtering System for Electrode Surface Conditioning

Summary form only given. In the past there has been considerable research performed using electromagnetic plasma thrusters as the primary ion source in sputtering applications. In the experiments conducted here, thin film coatings of various hard metallic alloys and oxides were applied to stainless steel electrodes using ion beam deposition. An SPT type Hall effect thruster capable of producing an ion beam with energies between 150 eV and 350 eV was used as the deposition ion source. The surface coatings were applied to Bruce profiled stainless steel electrodes which have an effective surface area of 5 cm² and a roughness average of roughly 70 nm. The electrodes were then examined using an optical profiler to accurately measure the roughness average of the thin film coating as well as the effective layer thickness. A comparison of the results obtained from each surface material is performed