Tungsten ion implantation into copper by use of metal arc-plasma electro-magnetically accelerated to several km s-1

Abstract A coaxial plasma gun was designed for the injection of W into Cu, by employment of the high speed of W ions attained by electro-magnetic acceleration. Under acceleration at 5 kV, W atoms could be injected into a Cu substrate at depths up to about 30 μm, whereas under acceleration at 4 kV no injection was observed. The injected W was observed to have nonuniform spatial distribution provably forming clusters or small groups of particles. Under acceleration at 5 kV, the first plasma to arrive at the substrate has a velocity of 10 km s −1 , which is much higher than that of initial plasma under acceleration at 4 kV. Immediately after the initial plasma, the relationship between the velocities of the respective plasmas reverses, so that average velocity at 5 kV is lower than that at 4 kV. Maximum plasma velocity plays a major role in the injection of W; i.e. the depth of W injection may depend on the velocity of initially generated plasma. The subsequent plasma forms a W layer on the surface of the substrate.