Plasma Applications Group at LBNL, Staff

We have many years of experience in producing metal plasmas by vacuum arc discharges (sometimes also called cathodic arc discharges). Historically, the group is know for pioneering work in fully ionized metal plasmas as used in vacuum arc ion sources. More recently, we have used filtered cathodic arc deposition and sputter deposition for the synthesis of thin films and nanostructures. We have produced dense thin metal and ceramic films such as oxides, nitrides and carbides, multilayers, and structured surfaces. For many of our deposition projects we use magnetic macroparticle filters and pulsed bias techniques, which is sometimes referred to as Metal Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation and Deposition (MePIIID), a hybrid technology combining ion implantation and thin film deposition. Films produced with this method have interesting properties, and many applications have been demonstrated. One interesting and most relevant example is the well-controlled deposition of highly adherent tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C), the hardest in the materials family of diamond-like carbon.