Azimuthal ion movement in HiPIMS plasmas—Part II: lateral growth fluxes

Abstract

Abstract The transport of sputtered species from the target of a magnetron plasma to a collecting surface at the circumference of the plasma is analyzed using a particle tracer technique. A small chromium insert at the racetrack position inside a titanium target is used as the source of tracer particles, which are redeposited on the collecting surface. The azimuthal velocity of the ions along the racetrack above the target is determined from the Doppler shift of the optical emission lines of titanium and chromium. The trajectories are reconstructed from an analysis of the transport physics leading to the measured deposition profiles. It is shown that a simple direct line-of-sight re-deposition model can explain the data for low-power plasmas (direct current magnetron sputtering) and for pulsed high-power impulse magnetron plasmas (HiPIMS) by using the Thompson velocity distribution from the sputtering process as starting condition. In the case of a HiPIMS plasma, the drag force exerted on the ions and neutrals by the electron Hall current has to be included causing an azimuthal displacement in E ⃗ × B ⃗ direction. Nevertheless, the Thompson sputter distribution remains preserved for 50% of the re-deposited growth flux. The implications for the understanding of transport processes in magnetron plasmas are discussed.