Current-pressure characteristics of planar magnetron discharges in rare gases

Abstract

The variation of current intensity with pressure, at constant voltage, (I-p characteristics), was obtained for planar magnetron discharges in neon, krypton, and xenon on a copper target. The analysis of those curves confirms that an equation of the same type as the one recently obtained by the authors for an argon–copper discharge is an adequate relation to describe the dependence of current intensity on pressure and voltage for planar magnetron discharges in rare gases. That equation accounts for a bimodal behavior corresponding to the sum of a “magnetron term” and a “diode term.”