JW5-TA-EP-ILB-01;JW5-AEP-MEC-06DevelopmentofberylliummarkertilesfortheITER-likeWallexperimentproject(ILW)EFDA05-1366;FU06-CT-2005-….docVIP

C. P. Lungu, I. Mustata, A. Anghel, A. M. Lungu, P. Chiru, C. C. SurduBob, O. Pompilian National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Magurele, Bucharest, Romania 1. Introduction The basic principle of the thermionic vacuum arc (TVA) technique [1] is ignition of plasma in the vapours of the material to be deposited (Re, Ni, Cr, W, Be, etc.). The evaporation of the metal takes place in high vacuum conditions (about 10-2 Pa and less) and no buffer gas is needed. An externally heated cathode (W filament) produces thermally emitted electrons at a current of about 100 mA. These electrons are accelerated and focused by a Whenelt cylinder to the anode that is biased to high positive voltage (1 – 6 kV). The electron bombardment creates space metal atoms above the anode at a local pressure of about 133 Pa. The TVA principle scheme is presented in Figure 1 where by If is designated an AC power supply providing the current for heating the cathode filament (0-120 A, at 0-24 V) and by HV is nominated the power supply able to provide high voltage (0-6 kV, at 0-5 A). Figure 1. The scheme of the TVA principle The thermo-electrons produced by the heated cathode are able to build up plasma by electron-metal atoms collisions in the space above the anode. The new electrons generated in the plasma together with the original ones emitted by cathode enhance once more the anode evaporation and produce high quantity of ions. Usually the cathode potential fall is in the range of 200-300 V and therefore the plasma potential in comparison with ground ensure generation of the high-energy ions, which collide the substrate. Deposition rates of 0.1 to 2nm/s were obtained using this technique. The films are formed by both neutrals and fast ions (with energies of hundreds eV). The energetic ions are essential for the adherence and compactness of the films. In the frame of the ITER-like Wall Project, part of the JET programme in support of ITER, to be implemented on JET starting with