Effect of electron injection on the parameters of a pulsed planar magnetron

We have explored the influence of supplementary electron injection on the operational parameters of a planar magnetron operating in repetitively pulsed mode (repetition rate 300 Hz, pulse duration 50–100 μs). The supplementary electron flux was provided from the plasma of an auxiliary hollow-cathode glow discharge and was accelerated directly into the magnetron cathode layer. We show that this supplementary electron injection eliminates magnetron ignition delay and increases the sputtered ion current from the magnetron plasma.