Measurements of the ion current collected by a substrate biased to high vol
tage have been carried out in plasma immersion ion implantation with a filt
ered vacuum arc plasma source. We have found that the ion saturation curren
t increases with applied voltage and that this effect depends upon the angl
e of the normal to the substrate with respect to the plasma stream and on t
he distance of the substrate from the plasma duct exit. We also found that
the ion current increases with increasing angle of the normal to the substr
ate with respect to the plasma stream. A model was developed for the sheath
expansion in a nonuniform plasma with substantial ion drift velocity. We f
ind that nonuniformity and high drift velocity lead to a decrease in sheath
thickness. In a nonuniform plasma, the ion saturation current increases wi
th applied voltage. The predictions of the model were found to be in good a
greement with experiment. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-69
51(00)05421-8].