SELF-CONSISTENT MODEL OF HIGH-CURRENT DENSITY SEGMENTED HOLLOW-CATHODE DISCHARGES

A two-dimensional model of the hollow cathode and the high-voltage seg mented hollow cathode sputtering discharges at high current densities is presented. The main plasma parameters (e.g., complete electron dist ribution function, spatial distributions of particle densities, gas te mperature, etc.) are determined self-consistently. The most important mechanisms contributing to the operating characteristics of these holl ow cathode discharges are identified and described quantitatively. The most representative hollow cathode configurations are analyzed and th e results are compared to existing experimental data for the helium-ar gon-copper system, e.g., voltage-current characteristics, density of c opper atoms as a function of the discharge current, and percentage arg on. Good agreement is found between model predictions and experimental results. The model can be adapted to other high-voltage variants of t he hollow cathode discharges. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.