Spatially resolved study of spokes in reactive HiPIMS discharge

Abstract

Understanding mechanisms behind the formation and propagation of ionisation zones, so-called spokes, have been highly important since the first observations in high power impulse magnetron sputtering discharges. To this day, however, a complete description is still lacking. This contribution gives an insight into the spokes in reactive Ar–N2 atmosphere using titanium target. The aim of this study is to describe not only global parameters of spokes such as their shape, length and propagation velocity but also provide a description of parameters evolving over the spoke, such as floating potential and spectral emission. The measurements of the latter clearly showed which species emission is most prominent and how it changes with transition from non-reactive argon discharge towards the discharge driven in a pure nitrogen atmosphere. Implications on the gas dynamics and discharge transitions are discussed.