Abstract: Computer caloulation of pure metal film thickness disiribution previded by the Vacuum arc ion boam deposition technique is presented in this paper. For the random arc with a low arc current, a model of single cathode spot with ion beam flux taking into account the cosine function spatial distribution is deduced. For the are steered by an external magnetie field, whieh is parallel to the cathode surface,a multiple cathode spots model is developed. And calculation comparison between the static substrate and rotating substrate is made. Results show that, the film thickness distribution is non-uniform when the are is not controlled and tends to be uniform when the arc is steered by an external parallel magnetic field if the cathode geometry and substrate location are well chosen. Also, film thickness distribntion is more uniform on a rotating substrate then that on a static substrate.Calculation results correspond to the experimental results.

Key words: film thickness distribution, vacuum arc deposition, calculationmodel