Plasma flow simulation in an off-plane double bend magnetic filter

A major disadvantage of cathodic arc plasma deposition is the presence of the macroparticles in the plasma. In order to produce high quality defect-free films suitable for hard-disk applications, an off-plane double bend filter (OPDB) has been developed. In this paper the characterization of an OPDB filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition system is performed. The effects of the system parameters such as filtering field and duct bias on the plasma properties were investigated using Faraday cup, Langmuir and current probes. The experimental results were found to be in good agreement with the simulation results based on an improved drift approximation model.