ABLATION PLASMA TEMPERATURE PRODUCED BY INTENSE, PULSED, ION-BEAM EVAPORATION

Characteristics of the ablation plasma produced by an intense, pulsed, ion-beam evaporation which has been known to be very effective in preparing thin films have been evaluated experimentally by measurement of the ion flux. Using the data of ion flux, the ablation plasma temperature (T0) is deduced by an analytic one-dimensional hydrodynamic solution. From the measurement of the ion-beam voltage and the ion-beam current density, the energy deposition per one atom (E(d)) is estimated. The dependence of T0 vs E(d) is studied experimentally and compared with that derived theoretically. Reasonable agreement is obtained between them.