Langmuir probe diagnostics of an impulse magnetron discharge with hot Cr target

Abstract

Impulse magnetron discharge (pulse duration 20 ms) with uncooled Cr target has been investigated with a specially designed Langmuir probe setup in a wide range of parameters (magnetic field and discharge power). The spatial distributions of electron temperature and plasma density have been measured in the gasless self-sputtering mode. It has been shown that in the gasless high-power pulsed discharge with hot Cr target, plasma density is as high as 5 × 1018 m−3 at a pulsed power density of 1430 W/cm2, while the electron temperature drops to values below 1 eV.