Pre-treatment of large area strips with the aid of a high power Hall current accelerator

A large aperture Hall current accelerator has been developed for ionic clea ning of glass and metallic strips before vacuum are deposition of protectiv e and decorative layers. The accelerator has a large aperture of 1400 mm an d power up to 10 kW. Various gases can be used for sputter cleaning: argon, nitrogen, oxygen, etc. The advantages of the Hall current source towards t hat of Kaufman in industrial processes are emphasized. The source sputter r ates were measured. The maximal sputter rate is 7.5 nm/min for glass and 10 0 nm/min for poly(methyl metacrylate). The quality of ionic etching was dem onstrated with the aid of Auger electron spectroscopy. The current-voltage characteristics for argon and oxygen are presented. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scien ce S.A. All rights reserved.