Langmuir probe study of reactive magnetron discharge plasma in a three-component gas atmosphere

Abstract

Probe measurements of reactive magnetron-discharge plasma were conducted in order to optimize the operating modes and predict the results of a mid-frequency magnetron sputtering system for depositing Ti–O–N compositions. A method for probe-data processing is developed. This method allows the determination of the basic plasma parameters, such as the concentration and temperature of electrons and ions. In order to reduce the impact of data errors that are due to the proximity of the probe and magnetron-source frequencies, the current–voltage characteristic was measured 50–80 times; these data are interpolated and then averaged.