Enhanced discharge of high power pulsed magnetron sputtering coupling with high voltage

Plasma source ion implantation and deposition, as an effective technology to produce functional coatings with high adhesion and density, possesses the wide application prospect, especially in the deposition of coatings that work in high loading service conditions. The key component of this technology is the metal plasma source, which is now based on pulsed cathodic arc with complex source structure and magnetic filtration because of the macro-droplets in the ion flux. In this paper, we present another metal plasma source, high power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS), and investigate the discharge characteristics at different coupling high-voltages by optical emission spectroscopy. The results show that significant improvements are found in the discharge target current and main particles in the plasma. The improvement in gas discharge by the coupling high-voltage is greater than in metal discharge which could increase obviously in the self-sputtering stage with higher target voltage discharge. Last but not least, in this paper we discuss the discharge enhancing mechanism of coupling high-voltage. It is found that the self-excited glow discharge of coupling high-voltage, the hollow-cathodic effect induced by face-to-face negative voltages of HPPMS and coupling high-voltage, and the enhanced ambipolar diffusion of the coupling high-voltage can all play a considerable role in HPPMS discharge.