Completion of the plant for laser plasma ablation-deposition of carbon

The strength of carbon stripper foils against heavy ion induced irradiation damage is at an optimum if the nanocrystals of the carbon foil are isotropically distributed. So far only carbon stripper foils prepared by laser plasma ablation deposition can completely fulfill this demand. This procedure is quite different from standard carbon foil preparation and needs several new developments especially for a series production. Here the realization of the previously measured ablation deposition data into a source-to-substrate configuration is demonstrated. For the total rotating substrate area of 750 cm2, an overall homogeneity of 3% could be attained with a small source-to-substrate distance of 40 cm. Problems being encountered from the high laser power density especially at the laser to vacuum entrance window have been solved. Investigations of suitable parting agents and parting agent combinations which are less sensitive on humidity were performed. Even if not all problems are solved with satisfaction, a routine preparation can be started now.