Plasma Parameters of Titanium-Based Metallic Plasma Generated by a Compact-Type High-Power Pulsed Sputtering Penning Discharge

Abstract

High-power pulsed sputtering (HPPS) Penning discharge produces high-density plasma containing many metallic ion species. The high-density metallic plasma is generated between parallel metal targets. A magnetic field is created by a set of permanent magnets behind the targets, and an electric field is formed parallel to the magnetic field. At the central region of the plasma source, an electrically grounded electrode is inserted in order to generate high-density plasma at ambient gas pressure lower than 2 Pa. In this paper, we measure the plasma parameters of metallic plasma flowing out of a compact-type HPPS Penning plasma source through the time-resolved double-probe method. The plasma density 15 mm away from the plasma source is $3 \times 10^{{\mathbf {18}}}\,\,\text{m}^{{\mathbf {-3}}}$ under an ambient gas pressure of 0.5 Pa. A plateau of the ion density is observed at ~40 mm from the plasma source. The values of the plasma density and the electron temperature at this position are $6\times10^{17}~{\text{m}^{-3}}$ and 2.8 eV, respectively.