Oxygen plasma immersion ion implantation （PIII） has been conducted on AZ31B magnesium alloy using different bias voltages. The modified layer is mainly composed of MgO and some MgAl2O4. Results form Rutherford backscattering spectrometry （RBS） and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） indicate that the bias voltage has a significant impact on the structure of the films. The oxygen implant fluences and the thickness of the implanted layer increase with higher bias voltages. A high bias voltage such as 60 kV leads to an unexpected increments in the oxygen-rich layer＇s thickness compared to those of the samples implanted at 20 kV and 40 kV. The hardness is hardly enhanced by oxygen PIII. The corrosion resistance of magnesium alloy may be improved by a proper implantation voltage.
Plasma surface modification of the inner wall of a slender tube is quite difficult to achieve using conventional means. In the work described here, an inner coaxial radio frequency （RF） copper electrode is utilized to produce the plasma and also acts as the sputtered target to deposit copper films in a tube. The influence of RF power, gas pressure, and bias voltage on the distribution of plasma density and the uniformity of film thickness is investigated. The experimental results show that the plasma density is higher at the two ends and lower in the middle of the tube. A higher RF power and pressure as well as larger tube bias lead to a higher plasma density. Changes in the discharge parameter only affect the plasma density uniformity slightly. The variation in the film thickness is consistent with that of the plasma density along the tube axis for different RF power and pressure. Although the plasma density increases with higher tube biases, there is an optimal bias to obtain the highest deposition rate. It can be attributed to the reduction in self-sputtering of the copper electrode and re-sputtering effects of the deposited film at higher tube biases.
