Anwendung der Hohlkatodenplasmaquelle in der Vakuumtechnik

Various effective and simple constructed plasma sources can be developed by using the hollow cathode effect. The improve of the plasma efficiency is caused by the penetration of two or more glow regions of different parts of the cathode. The equatation p × d ∽ 1 mbar cm is a rule of thumb for the appearance of the hollow cathode effect. The hollow cathode arc discharge is caused by an additional thermal electron emission besides the effectes of the hollow cathode glow discharge. All this effects are the reason for the higher degree of ionization for a hollow cathode source in comparison with the most other plasma sources. Application of the hollow cathode glow discharge for surface finish are technics like plasmacleaning, electron beam ablation or gas flow sputtering. Latters are new technics which allow the development of new sources for the coating technology. The application of the hollow cathode are discharge is possible by using the thermal energy generated by the electron beam (electron beam heating, electron beam melting, and electron beam evaporation) and by using the different possibilities of coating technologies whith the hollow cathode arc source (plasma enhanced evaporation, plasma enhanced reactive PVD and plasma CVD).