Effect of working gas pressure on mass-to-charge composition of plasma ions in high-current planar magnetron discharge

Abstract

Abstract The mass-to-charge ion composition of a planar magnetron discharge plasma has been investigated. The measurements used a modified quadrupole mass-spectrometer and a time-of-flight spectrometer. The experiments were carried out on a copper magnetron target. Argon was used as a working gas. The operating pressure was 0.15÷1.3 Pa. The discharge current was 1÷20 A with a pulse duration of 30÷50 μs. The influence of main operating parameters (discharge current and working gas pressure) on mass-to-charge composition of plasma ions was measured. The mass-to-charge composition of plasma ions in the axial direction was measured as a function of working pressure. Plasma electron temperature was measured and its effect on the mass-to-charge composition of magnetron plasma ions was estimated.