Simulation study on plasma discharge and transport in cylindrical cathode controlled by expanding electromagnetic field

High-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is a new magnetron sputtering technique which can produce high-density plasmas with a high ionization rate and prepare coatings with a good performance such as large density and high adhesion. To obtain stable discharge and universal materials’ ionization rates, a cylindrical cathode is proposed based on the hollow cathode effect. However, the unusual plasma transport results in a large loss of ions and a low deposition rate. To solve these problems, an expanding electromagnetic field is proposed to control the plasma transport in this work. The particle in cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC/MCC) method and the plasma diffusion model are used to simulate the plasma transport in and out of the cylindrical cathode with different currents in the electromagnetic coils, respectively. The simulation results reveal that different electromagnetic fields can achieve different plasma density distributions, resulting in different accumulated positions and different diffusion paths. When the coil current is positive, the resistance to axial motion of electrons is small but the resistance to radial motion is large, so that the hollow cathode effect is weakened and the plasma beam tends to output uniformly. When the coil current is negative, the resistance to axial motion of electrons is large but the resistance to radial motion is small, so that the hollow cathode effect is enhanced and the plasma tends to gather on the central axis and then diffuses outward. To verify the simulation results, Ar/Cr HiPIMS discharge experiments are carried out with the cylindrical cathode in a homemade vacuum system. The experiment results indicate that the threshold voltage, the plasma flow shape, the optical emission spectrum (OES) intensity, and the deposition distribution are determined by the electromagnetic coil current. The variation tendency is in coincidence with the prediction of the simulation. Consequently, by adding an expanding electromagnetic field, the plasma discharge in the cylindrical cathode can be easily controlled and the deposition rate is greatly enhanced. This electromagnetic control strategy not only realizes the enhancement and effective control of plasma, but also improves the homogeneity and the deposition rate of the coatings, thus laying a foundation for the industrial application of HiPIMS.