Production of Superconducting Niobium Films by Vacuum-Arc Deposition

Abstract

HOLLAND¹ commented that certain workers^2,3 interested in the production of vacuum-deposited thin films had shown that the electric arc could be used for this purpose. He noted that this method offered a possible solution to the problem of evaporating low-vapour-pressure metals which for various reasons could not be handled by the techniques then available. We have shown that, where films of uniform thickness are not required, the high deposition-rates obtainable from a vacuum-arc at a very short distance from the substrate greatly facilitate the production of pure films in poor vacua.