Very high rate coating deposition with intense ion and/or electron bombardment

The principles of a new method of high rate coating deposition are presented which are based on a pulsed ion diode with explosive emission. The equipment is flexible and can work in three regimes: pulsed ion beams, pulsed electron beams, and the deposition of films and coatings. Coatings can be deposited with ion beam mixing (coating and/or substrate), and these can be post treated with intense pulsed electron beams which allows the properties to be extensively modified. Experimental results are presented on a variety of coatings deposited on the characteristics of the diode and on different substrate materials at different temperatures; specific examples include high temperature superconductors, Tin, Tib(2) and diamond-like carbon films.