Patent ID: 7828946

Claim:
An arc evaporator comprising a magnetic guide for targets having a surface area, which incorporate an anode and a cathode or a target, housed within a vacuum bell jar, in which is housed a piece to be coated with material evaporated from the target by means of an electric arc produced between the anode and the cathode, in which the magnetic guide controls and directs a movement of the electric arc comprising said magnetic guide including two independent magnetic systems, which include four magnetic poles that allow the resultant magnetic intensity to be varied so that the electric arc follows a track desired on the target, the first magnetic system being constituted by a group of permanent magnets located on the periphery of the evaporator, in a disposition coplanar with the target, with its magnetization perpendicular to a surface of said target, and the first magnetic system having an upper magnetic pole; and the second magnetic system constituted by an electromagnet located in a rear part of the target, at a distance from the latter, the second magnetic system having an upper magnetic pole or a magnetic pole nearer the target being arranged parallel to the surface of the target and including a magnetization perpendicular to the surface of said target and parallel to the permanent magnets in the periphery such that the upper pole of the both first and second magnetic systems have the same polarity.