Ion energy distribution functions measured for high power impulse magnetron sputtering show features, such as a broad peak at several 10 eV with an extended tail, as well as asymmetry with respect to E × B, where E and B are the local electric and magnetic field vectors, respectively. Here it is proposed that those features are due to the formation of a potential hump of several 10 V in each of the traveling ionization zones. Potential hump formation is associated with a negative-positive-negative space charge that naturally forms in ionization zones driven by energetic drifting electrons.
BT - Applied Physics Letters DA - 10/2013 DO - 10.1063/1.4823827 IS - 14 N2 -Ion energy distribution functions measured for high power impulse magnetron sputtering show features, such as a broad peak at several 10 eV with an extended tail, as well as asymmetry with respect to E × B, where E and B are the local electric and magnetic field vectors, respectively. Here it is proposed that those features are due to the formation of a potential hump of several 10 V in each of the traveling ionization zones. Potential hump formation is associated with a negative-positive-negative space charge that naturally forms in ionization zones driven by energetic drifting electrons.
PY - 2013 EP - 144103 ST - Appl. Phys. Lett. T2 - Applied Physics Letters TI - Drifting potential humps in ionization zones: The “propeller blades” of high power impulse magnetron sputtering VL - 103 SN - 00036951 ER -