Formation of Molybdenum-Containing Layers by Induction-Thermal Vacuum Spraying

The work determines the possibility of induction-thermal vacuum sputtering of a molybdenum target and the formation of molybdenum-containing layers on alumina substrates. In the process of numerical simulation of the inductor–chamber–target–sample system, the influence of the inductor current on the target heating temperature and heat distribution over the cross section of ceramic samples was studied. Modeling consisted in solving problems of electrodynamics and nonstationary heat transfer. Taking into account the results obtained in numerical simulation, technological equipment was manufactured, and the process of forming molybdenum-containing layers on Al₂O₃ was carried out at a residual pressure of the gaseous medium of 55 ± 25 Pa, an inductor current of 6.56 kA, a deposition distance of 5–17 mm, and a process duration of 600 s. It has been established that the oxygen content in the coatings does not exceed 12.20 ± 1.95 at % and the thickness of the formed layers slightly depends on the spraying distance and reaches 5.5 ± 0.26 μm. The rate of formation of molybdenum-containing layers during induction-thermal vacuum sputtering reached 0.8–1.1 μm/min.