As is well known, most filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition technology adopts filters with various geometries to remove macro particles in the last three decades, but almost all of them have a circular cross-section. Compared with the traditional toroidal duct filters, the rectangular graphite cathodic arc source can have a larger area which can be an arc source of a ribbon-like cathodic arc plasma filter, which has a higher coating efficiency due to its larger area arc source and may be more suitable for a larger scale industrial production. Thus, the research on the plasma distribution properties within the vacuum ribbon-like cathodic arc plasma filter is of great significance. In this paper, a rectangular graphite cathodic arc source is used to produce the ribbon-like cathodic arc plasma. Within the filter, a 90◦ curved magnetic duct with a rectangular cross-section is used as the arc filter. The ribbon-like cathodic arc plasma is transmitted from cathode to the deposition area along the magnetic line produced by external coils. A Faraday cup ion energy analyzer and a Langmuir probe are used to characterize the distribution properties of the filtered plasma at 15 places on the exit plane. Ion energies and ion density at these positions are obtained. For the special “retrograde”motion of the cathode spot on the rectangular target surface, the ion energies and ion density data are not stable. In order to obtain representative values, the net results are the average value of 3 measurements. Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films are deposited by the ribbon-like cathodic arc plasma filter at the same exit plane and their structures are characterized by Raman shift. To compare the distinctness of the 15 Raman spectrums, each Raman spectrum of the DLC films is normalized and shown in a figure. Meanwhile, the thicknesses of all the DLC films are measured by step profiler. Results show that the ion energies are of Maxwell distributions at all the 15 places on the exit plane. The ion energies vary from 0 to 60 eV, most being in the range from 20 to 30 eV. The arc voltage is 30 eV, which exactly coincides with the ion energies. While Raman spectra of the DLC films show an obvious correspondence relationship with the ion energies as well as the ion density and the DLC film thickness. The nano-hardness of the DLC films lies in a range of 25–43 GPa. Although the ion energies, ion density, DLC film thickness and nano-hardness are slightly different at different locations, they are not significant. Owing to the relatively evenly distributed properties of the ribbon-like arc plasma this may open great opportunities for a large area filtered arc deposition technique.%采用大尺寸矩形石墨靶作为真空阴极电弧源,研制了带状真空电弧磁过滤器。使用法拉第杯和朗缪尔探针对90◦弯曲磁过滤器中的带状等离子体出口所在平面的15个区域的离子能量和密度进行了测试；用该带状真空电弧磁过滤器制备了类金刚石膜(diamond-like carbon, DLC)；对相应位置上的类金刚石膜进行了Raman分析和膜厚测量。结果表明：磁过滤器出口所在平面的15个划分区域中离子能量分布接近麦克斯韦分布,离子能量分布与类金刚石膜的结构具有明显的对应特征,离子密度分布与DLC膜膜厚分布相互之间具有相关性。
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