Study of Plasma Particle Distribution and Electron Temperature in Cylindrical Magnetron Sputtering

The plasma density and electron temperature are governed and influenced by the high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering parameters (e.g., operating voltage, pulse width, and working gas pressure), which are critical factors in determining the quality of high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering deposited films. This article proposes a vertical cylindrical magnetron sputtering plasma model based on the equivalent magnetic charge model to study the particle spatiotemporal and electron temperature distribution in high-power pulse magnetron sputtering. The results show that the electron converges in the highest magnetic field region in high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering during the increase of argon pressure from 3 to 7 Pa. The electron density distribution width ratio decreases from 80 to 64%, reducing target utilization. At the same time, for every 1 Pa increase in pressure, the average electron temperature in the discharge region is reduced by about 2 eV, which is inversely proportional to the pressure. As the voltage increases to 1000 V, the electric field intensity increases to 2 × 10⁵ V/m, and the distribution of sputtered particles tends to be closer to the electrode, and the cathode dark zone changes from 2 to 1 mm. The increase in voltage has little effect on the shape of the plasma particle density distribution, but the electron temperature near the electrode increases to 19 eV at high voltages. The study reveals the change of plasma particles during the magnetron sputtering process, which is of guidance for magnetron sputtering.