No abstract

We report the mechanisms of production and the state of excitation of the neutral and singly charged monatomic carbon in the regenerative soot as a function of the discharge parameters in graphite hollow cathode (HC) sources. Two distinctly different source configurations have been investigated. Comparisons of the level densities of various charged states of C 1 have identified the regenerative properties of the C radicals in graphite HC soot.

Results are presented that have been obtained while operating the graphite hollow cathode duoplasmatron ion source in dual mode under constant discharge current. This dual mode operation enabled us to obtain the mass and emission spectra simultaneously. In mass spectra C3 is the main feature but C4 and C5 are also prominent, whereas in emission spectra C2 is also there and its presence shows that it is in an excited state rather than in an ionic state. These facts provide evidence that C3 is produced due to the regeneration of a soot forming sequence and leave it in ionic state. C3 is a stable molecule and the only dominant species among the carbon clusters that survives in a regenerative sooting environment at high-pressure discharges.

The mechanisms for population inversion among the excited states of He I and Ne I in regenerative sooting discharges have been investigated as a function of the geometry and the physical parameters of the graphite hollow cathode sources. The effect of the state of sooting of the hollow cathode, the gas pressure and the role of the cycling of i dis on the population inversion of the excited He I and Ne I levels have been investigated.

We present results of carbon coatings on metal substrates in cylindrical hollow cathode (CHC) direct current magnetron sputtering. This is a new technique of making amorphous carbon film in CHC magnetron sputtering from regenerative sooting discharge. The carbon films are deposited on Cu and Al substrates in Ne atmosphere and compared with the films of carbon soot on the same materials produced from conventional arc discharge between graphite electrodes at 80 A in He background. The films are characterized using online emission, Raman, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Raman spectroscopy reveals the existence of graphite and diamond like structures from arc discharge while in CHC magnetron sputtering, graphite like structures are dominant. XRD pattern from arc discharge show precipitates of Al 4 C 3 of rhombohedral and hexagonal types in nanometer ranges for aluminum sample and probable formation of diamond and hexagonal carbon in copper whilst in magnetron sputtering we get amorphous carbon films. SEM images of surface show collection of loose agglomerates of carbon particles in arc discharge whereas for magnetron sputtering structures are regular with smooth edges and fine grains.