Effects of pulse parameters on macro-particle production in pulsed cathodic vacuum arc deposition

The effects of the pulse parameters on the production of macro-particles in vacuum arc deposition are studied. A power supply that can provide either direct current or pulsed power is used and the influence of the current and duty cycle are independently investigated. Copper is used as the cathode and glass is used as the substrate. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy with image processing software are used to analyze the macro-particles deposited on the substrate. Our results show the general trend that the density of macro-particles increases with the direct current but there is no obvious correlation with the duty cycles. The lowest degree of macro-particle contamination is observed at a duty cycle of about 40.5%.