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INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS PUBLISHING PLASMA SOURCES SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 14 (2005) 525–531 doi:10.1088/0963-0252/14/3/015

Plasma dynamics in a highly ionized

pulsed magnetron discharge
J Alami1 , J T Gudmundsson2,3 , J Bohlmark1 , J Birch1
and U Helmersson1
1
Department of Physics, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden
2
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Iceland, Hjardarhaga
2–6, IS-107 Reykjavik, Iceland
3
Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhaga 3, IS-107 Reykjavik, Iceland

Received 12 January 2005, in final form 13 May 2005

Published 9 June 2005
Online at stacks.iop.org/PSST/14/525

Abstract
We report on electrostatic probe measurements of a high-power pulsed
magnetron discharge. Space- and time-dependent characteristics of the
plasma parameters are obtained as functions of the process parameters.
By applying high-power pulses (peak power of ∼0.5 MW), with a pulse-on
time of ∼100 µs and a repetition frequency of 20 ms, peak electron densities
of the order of ∼1019 m−3 , i.e. three orders of magnitude higher than for a
conventional dc magnetron discharge, are achieved soon after the pulse is
switched on. At high sputtering gas pressures (>5 mTorr), a second peak
occurs in the electron density curve, hundreds of microseconds after the
pulse is switched off. This second peak is mainly due to an ion acoustic
wave in the plasma, reflecting off the chamber walls. This is concluded from
the time delay between the two peaks in the electron and ion saturation
currents, which is shown to be dependent on the chamber dimensions and
the sputtering gas composition. Finally, the electron temperature is
determined, initially very high but decreasing rapidly as the pulse is turned
off. The reduction seen in the electron temperature, close to the etched area
of the cathode, is due to cooling by the sputtered metal atoms.

1. Introduction applied to the cathode with a low repetition frequency,

Magnetron sputtering is a well-established technique for
deposition of thin films for a wide range of applications.
In conventional dc magnetron sputtering, the plasma density
(electron density) is usually of the order of 1016 m−3 at the
substrate location, a few centimetres away from a sputtering-
target [1]. The ionization fraction of the sputtered species is
usually of the order of a few per cent [2], and the majority of
charged particles extracted to the substrate, using a negative
bias, are ions of the sputtering gas [2].
In many cases, an increase in ionization of the sputtered
atoms is desired. This can be done by increasing the plasma
density, which can be achieved, for example, by supplying rf
power via an internal antenna [3] or by means of a hollow
cathode [4]. Another alternative technique to achieve a
high degree of ionization is high-power pulsed magnetron
sputtering (HPPMS), which is a unipolar pulsing technique
where high-power pulses of short duration (50–100 µs) are
e.g. 50 Hz, resulting in an effective duty factor of less than
1% [5]. Thus, a substantial increase in the instantaneous
plasma density is achieved without increasing the thermal load
of the target. This was shown by Gudmundsson et al [6, 7],
where high plasma densities (∼1018 m−3 ) were measured, with
the ionization fraction of the sputtered metal reaching 30–70%
[8] and the peak ionization-fraction reaching more than
90% [9]. HPPMS was demonstrated for use in hole- and via-
filling applications and for improved thickness homogeneity
of deposited films [5]. However, plasma conditions varied
significantly across the chamber and with process parameters,
potentially resulting in non-uniform coating properties. Better
mapping of the plasma spatial and temporal conditions is
therefore necessary in order to understand the dynamics and
the energetics of plasma species in an HPPMS system. In
earlier work, we reported on the temporal behaviour of the
plasma parameters for positions along the target-axis [6, 7].
We also showed that the peak effective electron temperature

0963-0252/05/030525+07$30.00 © 2005 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK 525

J Alami et al
Figure 1. Measurement set-up: the probe current is measured using the oscilloscope module Pico ADC212 (Lanzo) controlled by the PC’s
parallel port. The PC is also used as a controller of the probe power supply (PS) and user interface for the set-up.
Te was in the range of 2.3–3 eV at a distance of 5–10 cm from
the sputter-source, when a pulse energy of 6 J was used [5,10].
In this work we use cylindrical and flat Langmuir probes as
well as a triple probe to study the dynamics of the electron
density, the ion saturation current and the electron temperature
evolutions as the plasma expands from the sputter-source.
2. Experimental techniques
Figure 1 shows a schematic of the measurement set-up, where
a standard planar weakly unbalanced magnetron was operated
with a Ta metal sputter-source (target) 15 cm in diameter. The
sputtering-target, the cathode, was located inside a stainless
steel chamber with a radius of 22 cm and a height of 75 cm.
The chamber wall served as an anode for the discharge. The
cathode was driven by a pulsed power supply from Chemfilt
R&D AB that delivers voltages of up to 2500 V and currents
of up to 1200 A, at a repetition frequency of 50 Hz. The
pulse length was in the range of 50–100 µs. Measurements
were made with average powers of 300 W, 550 W and 850 W,
corresponding to pulse energies of 6 J, 11 J and 17 J and peak
powers of 200 kW, 320 kW and 480 kW, respectively. Ar, Ne
and Kr were used as discharge gases. The target current and
voltage were monitored by a Tektronix TDS 520 C (500 MHz,
1 Gs s−1 ) oscilloscope using a Tektronix P6015 high voltage
probe (1000 × attenuation), a Tektronix CT-04 high current
transformer (20 kA peak current and bandwidth 20 MHz) and
a TCP202 current probe (15 A ac/dc and bandwidth 50 MHz).
Plasma characterization was made using three different
electrostatic probe set-ups. For electron density measure-
ments, a cylindrical Langmuir probe consisting of a tungsten
wire of length lpr = 5.0 ± 0.5 mm and diameter rpr = 0.10 ±
0.01 mm was used. The probe holder was an alumina tube
with an outer radius rprh = 0.5 mm and a length lprh = 19 mm.
The probe was made in such a way that rprh  lpr and rpr , rprh ,
526
λDe  λe ∼ 10 mm. Here λDe ∼ 14–100 µm is the Debye
length and λe is the electron mean free path, as discussed by
Godyak [11]. The Langmuir probe current was determined by
measuring the voltage over a resistor (10 ). The probe cur-
rent and voltage were then collected and stored in a computer
for later analysis (figure 1). In order to minimize the error
caused by the magnetic field strength B, the mean gyro-radius
rg = (2me E)1/2 /eB must be much larger than the probe radius.
This is characterized by β = rpr /rg which was calculated at dif-
ferent positions along the target-axis and was found to be 0.19,
0.02 and 0.005 at distances of 4 cm, 7 cm and 20 cm, respec-
tively, from the target. The probe was consequently positioned
no closer than 4 cm from the target. Further measurement
details are presented elsewhere [6, 7]. Time resolved probe
measurements were made with the probe voltage between −15
and +10 V in 0.1 V steps. From the time sweeps data, current–
voltage (I –V ) curves were constructed and analysed for every
2 µs. They were smoothed by convoluting them with a Black-
man window [12], then the first and second derivatives of the
I –V curve were calculated. The electron energy distribution
function and the electron density were numerically determined
using the Druyvesteyn formula [13]. In order to measure the
ion saturation current a negatively biased (−50 V) flat probe,
consisting of a metal disc 2 cm in diameter, equipped with a
guard ring, was used. The guard ring was kept at the same
potential as the disc, but only the current drawn to the flat disc
was measured.
Langmuir probe measurements showed strong data
fluctuations when the electron current was low, soon after
the pulse was switched on and later when the pulse was
switched off. The resulting electron temperatures calculated
in this range were noisy, making the calculated electron
temperature values uncertain in most cases. Triple-probe
measurements [14,15] were therefore used for the temperature
measurements so as to ensure that the measurement results are
not affected by signal-instabilities observed at low electron
 Plasma dynamics in a pulsed magnetron discharge

Figure 2. The sputtering-target current and voltage measured for an

argon discharge as functions of time from the initiation of the pulse
at 0.5 mTorr (a), and at 20 mTorr (b). The pulse energy was 11 J and
the target was made of tantalum.

currents. The symmetrical triple probe was made of three

cylindrical tungsten wires (P1 , P2 , P3 ), of the same dimensions
as the Langmuir probe described earlier, mounted parallel and
separated by 2 mm from each other. This distance is large
enough to avoid shadowing but small enough to assume plasma
uniformity. The probe set-up configuration was described by
Chen and Sekiguchi [14], where probe P2 was kept floating
while a voltage Vd3 was applied between P1 and P3 so that a
positive voltage Vd2 could be measured between P1 and P2 .
Vd2 was then related to Te by the following relation [15]:

1 − exp(−eVd2 /kTe ) 1
= , (1)
1 − exp(−eVd3 /kTe ) 2

where k is the Boltzmann constant. The bias voltage between
probes P1 and P3 was large enough, i.e. eVd3 > 3kTe [15], so
that equation (1) could be simplified to give:
eVd2
kTe ∼
= .
ln 2
3. Experimental results
Figure 2 shows typical target current and voltage traces for
the pulse energy of 11 J and Ar (sputtering gas) pressures of
0.5 and 20 mTorr. A high peak negative-voltage of 1400 V
was applied to the magnetron, which decreased to about a
half as the plasma ignited. It is seen that for the lower gas
pressure the target current and voltage were quite unstable,
showing fluctuations for high current values. In the 0.5 mTorr
case it took about 30 µs from the start of the pulse for the
plasma to ignite. However, the ignition-time decreased with
increasing pressure, and at 20 mTorr the plasma ignited almost
instantaneously.
Figure 3. Examples of temporal and spatial variations of the
electron saturation current in a 20 mTorr argon discharge for a
pulse energy of 11 J, using a Ta target, varying (a) the sputtering
gas, (b) the chamber radius, (c) the probe location and (d) the pulse
power.
(2)
3.1. Process parameters influence on the electron saturation
current
The plasma behaviour was investigated by studying the
dependence of the electron saturation current (Ie ) on process
conditions, i.e. sputtering gas, chamber dimensions, distance
from target and applied power. Ie was measured using a
Langmuir probe supplied with a +10 V voltage, which was
placed at a distance of 10 cm away from the target, along the
target-axis. The current measurements were carried out by
keeping the gas pressure at 20 mTorr and varying the other
process parameters one at a time. In all obtained results
(figure 3) two local current maxima can be seen. The first peak
appears immediately after plasma ignition and the second one
appears later, depending on process conditions. In figure 3(a)
it can be seen that the lighter the gas is, the faster the initial

527
J Alami et al
Ii(arb. units)

Figure 4. Ion saturation current versus time from initiating the pulse
at various distances along the centre axis of the planar cylindrical
tantalum target. The argon gas pressure was 20 mTorr, the pulse
length was ∼100 µs and the pulse energy was 11 J. Unphysical
negative ion-current measured during the first 100 µs may be the
effect of the voltage induced in the cables to the probe owing to the
high current discharge.

current response. This is also observed for the second peak,

which occurred at 380 µs, 540 µs and 780 µs after the pulse
initiation for Ne, Ar and Kr, respectively. In figure 3(b)
the chamber radius was decreased, using an aluminium folio,
from the original 22.5 to 14 cm, and finally to 9 cm while the
chamber length was kept constant. Ar gas and a pulse energy
of 11 J were used. Measurements were performed at 10 cm
from the target. It is seen that decreasing the chamber radius
resulted in a faster appearance of the second peak. In figure 3(c)
the probe-to-target distance was changed from 4 to 10 cm with
steps of 2 cm. Here Ar gas, a pulse energy of 11 J and a chamber
radius of 22 cm were used. The collected probe current, as a
consequence, is seen to increase and the second peak appears
earlier when increasing the distance between the probe and the
target. Finally, figure 3(d) shows how the applied power affects
the collected electron saturation current. Three different pulse
energies are shown: 6 J, 11 J and 17 J corresponding to the
average energies of 300 W, 550 W and 850 W, respectively.
Ar gas and a chamber radius of 22 cm were used in this
experiment. Higher current and faster emergence of the second
peak are achieved when increasing the pulse energy.
3.2. Ion-current
Ion saturation currents were measured at different distances
from the Ta target, along the centre axis. Results are shown
in figure 4. In the early stage of the discharge, t < 100 µs,
the probe current may be affected by the voltage induced in
the cables to the probe and the other measurement equipment,
owing to the high current discharge. Therefore, the data repre-
sented in figure 4 should be interpreted with some caution for
the first 100 µs. The first relevant peak is seen at about 150 µs
from the pulse initiation while the second peak appears some
hundreds of microseconds later and is seen to dominate the ion
saturation current as the probe is moved away from the target.
3.3. Electron density
Results from the electron and ion saturation currents showed
that the plasma parameters change considerably when the
Figure 5. (a) Time resolved electron densities at different distances
from the target along the centre axis. (b) Peak density values
measured at different positions along the radius 10 cm from the
tantalum target.
process parameters are changed. In order to better understand
the dynamics of these changes we chose to study the electron
density for two different cases. In the first case the probe
position was changed along the centre axis, from 4 to 12 cm
from the target in steps of 4 cm, and along the radius from 3 to
7 cm in steps of 2 cm for a probe-to-target distance of 8 cm.
The pulse energy was 11 J and the Ar pressure was 20 mTorr.
In the second case the pulse energy was varied. The energies
6, 11 and 17 J were used at two different distances from the
target: 6.5 and 18.5 cm while the Ar pressure was kept at
20 mTorr.
Results from the first case are presented in figure 5. It is
seen in figure 5(a) that high-density peaks (∼1019 m−3 ) were
formed soon after the pulse initiation and decayed rapidly after
the pulse was off. About 600 µs after the pulse initiation, a
second density peak is observed with the electron density once
again increasing up to a value of the order of 1018 –1019 m−3 .
The second peak in the density curve was most pronounced at
the position of 12 cm from the sputtering source. In figure 5(b)
peak electron densities are presented for radial-positions
(10 cm from the target). Here a maximum of 2.6 × 1019 m−3
was shown for the radial distance of 3 cm, corresponding to a
position underneath the race-track. The spatial and temporal
variation of the density at 20 mTorr gas pressure is illustrated
in more detail in a separate publication [16]. It is clearly seen
that the density at 10 cm from the target is the highest under
the race-track.

528

Figure 6. Electron density, ne , versus time from the initiation of the
pulse, for an argon discharge and a titanium sputter-source at
20 mTorr (a) 6.5 cm and (b) 18.5 cm below the source for various
pulse energies.
In case 2, the applied target power was varied. Figure 6
shows that higher electron densities were achieved with
increasing pulse energy at both distances. Figure 6(a) shows
that at 6.5 cm, the first electron density peaks appeared some
86 µs after pulse initiation, independent of the power used,
while the second density peaks occurred at 560 µs, 500 µs and
460 µs after the first peak at 6 J, 11 J and 17 J, respectively.
Figure 6(b) shows measurement results at 18.5 cm, where
densities are about 10 times lower than those measured at
6.5 cm, and the second peaks are broader relative to the
first ones.
3.4. Electron temperature
Electron temperature (Te ) was measured, using the triple probe,
at distances between 4 and 28 cm from the target surface along
the centre axis, and laterally out from the centre axis to 12 cm
in 2 cm-steps. The triple probe gives a direct reading of the
temperature [14], assuming that the plasma condition around
the measured area is uniform. Figure 7(a) shows examples
from measurements made at a distance of 6 cm from the target,
at different radial-positions. During the pulse-on time, it
is seen that Te is about 1.5 eV underneath the centre of the
sputter-source. It decreases to less than 1 eV at the radial
distance of 4 cm, and then increases up to a value close to
3 eV, at 12 cm from the centre axis. As the pulse is switched
off, Te decreases rapidly to reach a value of around 0.2 eV.
Temperature measurements made at 500 µs from the pulse
start are also shown in figure 7(a). Similar analyses were made
at a distance 14 cm away from the sputter-source. Examples
from such measurements are shown in figure 7(b), where Te is
Plasma dynamics in a pulsed magnetron discharge
Figure 7. Electron temperature Te at different radial-positions (dr )
of the probe for an argon discharge at 20 mTorr and a pulse energy
of 11 J at (a) 6 cm and (b) 14 cm below the target.
measured to be between 2 and 3 eV during the pulse-on time
and 0.2 ± 0.1 eV at 500 µs.
4. Discussion
As seen from the experimental results, very high plasma
densities are achieved during the high-power pulse as
compared with dc sputtering. In many of the measurements
two density peaks are present—a first peak during the pulse-on
time, which is discussed in more detail elsewhere [17], and
a second plasma density peak which appears well after the
power has been switched off, in particular, at higher pressures
(>5 mTorr). We suggest that this second peak is due to a
plasma wave that formed during the pulse-on time and reflected
off the chamber walls back to the measurement position. This
suggestion is supported by the electron saturation current
measurements conducted for varying chamber diameter, target
power and sputtering gas. The electron saturation current
measurements, which were used here as a guideline to indicate
trends in the plasma dynamics, showed the same behavior
when the probe-to-target distance was changed. However, the
second peak was measured earlier the further away from the
target it was, which could possibly be the result of a higher
contribution from the plasma waves reflecting off the bottom
of the vessel rather than the walls.
In order to understand the relation between the mass of
the sputtering gas and the wave propagation speed we assume
that the waves in the plasma are ion acoustic in nature and are
dominated by the sputtering gas rather than ions originating
from the sputtering-target. Figure 3(a) was used to estimate
the velocities of the reflecting waves which gave the values
529
J Alami et al
Figure 8. The square root of the atomic mass, M, of the sputtering
gas atoms and the wave reflection time, t. The solid line is a least
square fit to the measured values through the origin.
∼1370 m s−1 , ∼1100 m s−1 and ∼670 m s−1 , for Ne, Ar and
Kr, respectively. According to Chen [18], in ion acoustic
waves, the electrons are pulled along with the ions. With the
magnetic field strength decreasing fast away from the target
and negligible at a position a few centimetres from the target,
the velocity of such waves could be approximated by vs as
given by Chen [18]:


γi kTi + kTe 1/2
vs = , (3)
M
where k is the Boltzmann constant, γi is the adiabatic constant,
characteristic of the specific gas, Te is the electron temperature
and M is the molecular mass of the gas. If we assume that the
temperature of the ions in the plasma is independent of the gas
type we would see a linear relation between t and M 1/2 where
t is the time taken by the wave to go from the cathode to the
walls of the chamber and back to the probe (corresponding to
the time it takes from pulse ignition to the appearance of the
second peak). We assume that the wave is initiated when the
plasma is ignited. In figure 8 one can see that there is indeed an
excellent linear relation. In the case of Ar we measured Te to be
0.2±0.1 eV, in agreement with findings by Gudmundsson et al
[6], who showed that after the pulse end a single Maxwellian
distribution of the electron energy could be observed, with
electrons having an effective electron temperature of ∼0.3 eV.
With Te = 0.2±0.1 eV, we can estimate Ti to be 0.07±0.03 eV
(300–800 K), using a value of γi = 3 [18]. This is not an
accurate means of estimating Ti , but it validates the assumption
that the observed second peak in the probe measurements are
due to ion acoustic waves in the plasma, since the observed ion
temperatures in sputtering plasmas are in this range [19].
We have to note that in the present case, the discharge
consists of a mixture of the working gas and of material
sputtered off the target. However, Ehiasarian et al [20]
measured the plasma optical emission sputtering Cr by Ar and
showed that the plasma composition after the first 100 µs from
pulse initiation is dominated by Ar. This leads to the suggestion
that the ion composition in the second peak observed in figure 8
is mainly of the working gas ions.
During the pulse it was observed that the electron
temperature shows lower values close to the erosion zone
(figure 7(a)). This corresponds to the position for the highest
530
electron density and the highest density of sputtered atoms
from the target. As a result of the abundance of the Ta metal
particles in this region more efficient cooling of the electrons
is achieved owing to the lower excitation and ionization
potentials of Ta, compared with Ar. Outside this region, the
less-efficient cooling results in higher-energy electrons.
5. Conclusion
High plasma densities (electron densities) were achieved
using the HPPMS technique. By applying high-power
pulses, ∼100 µs long, repeated every 20 ms, the electron
density reached peak values of the order of 1019 m−3 at the
measurement positions ranging from 4 to 10 cm from the
cathode and not lower than 1017 m−3 , throughout the measured
time of 1 ms after plasma ignition.
For pressures above 5 mTorr, two peaks could be observed
in both the electron density and the ion density: one early
after plasma ignition (the same as for lower pressures) and one
well after the pulse power to the cathode had been terminated.
Close to the cathode the first peak dominates, while further
out in the plasma the second peak dominates the density
curve. It was concluded that the second peak is due to an
ion acoustic wave in the plasma, reflecting off the chamber
walls. This is seen by the time delay between the two peaks
which is consequently dependent on chamber dimensions and
sputtering gas composition.
The electron temperature is initially very high in the
plasma, decreasing rapidly as the energy pulse is turned off.
The electron temperature has a minimum value close to the
etched areas of the cathode owing to an efficient cooling of the
electrons through ionization of the sputtered Ta atoms, which
are abundant close to the etched region.
Acknowledgments
This work was partially supported by the Swedish Foundation
for Strategic Research, the Swedish Science Council, and
the University of Iceland Research Fund and the Icelandic
Research Council. Many thanks to Dr Leif Samuelsson
for technical assistance with the construction of the probe
measurements station. The Company Chemfilt R&D AB is
acknowledged for the use of the power supply.
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