Effective control of the arc discharge-generated plasma jet by smartly designed magnetic fields

Control of ion current directed to a substrate is a key feature of plasma processing reactors. Magnetic field has been used to enhance the plasma setups. Two magnetic coils placed under the substrate together with the coils near the plasma source, generate magnetic traps for the plasma electrons in a vacuum chamber, to confine them and generate electric field to influence the ion motion. Images of the plasma jet patterns for different configurations of the magnetic field are presented