Development of metal vapor vacuum are ion source in Thailand

A metal vapor vacuum are (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 X 10(5) and with the repetition rate of up to 5.5 pps at 200 A are current. The main are 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 are current to the ion current was found to approach 3%. Preliminary experiments with copper film deposition on some dielectric substrates are discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.