Evidence for breathing modes in direct current, pulsed, and high power impulse magnetron sputtering plasmas

Journal Article · Mon Jan 18 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4939922· OSTI ID:22489338

Yang, Yuchen ^[1]; Zhou, Xue ^[2]; Liu, Jason X. ^[2]; Anders, André ^[2]

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1. State Key Lab for Materials Processing and Die & Mold Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)
2. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

We present evidence for breathing modes in magnetron sputtering plasmas: periodic axial variations of plasma parameters with characteristic frequencies between 10 and 100 kHz. A set of azimuthally distributed probes shows synchronous oscillations of the floating potential. They appear most clearly when considering the intermediate current regime in which the direction of azimuthal spoke motion changes. Breathing oscillations were found to be superimposed on azimuthal spoke motion. Depending on pressure and current, one can also find a regime of chaotic fluctuations and one of stable discharges, the latter at high current. A pressure-current phase diagram for the different situations is proposed.

• OSTI ID: 22489338
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 3; Other Information: (c) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
DIRECT CURRENT
FLUCTUATIONS
KHZ RANGE
MAGNETRONS
OSCILLATIONS
PERIODICITY
PHASE DIAGRAMS
PLASMA
POTENTIALS
PROBES
PULSES
SPUTTERING