Modeling of a microsecond pulsed glow discharge: behavior of the argon excited levels and of the sputtered copper atoms and ions

A set of models is developed for a microsecond pulsed glow discharge, to de scribe the behavior of argon excited levels, including the metastables, as well as the cathodic sputtering and the behavior of sputtered copper atoms and ions. These models are coupled to a hybrid Monte Carlo-fluid model for electrons, argon ions and atoms, which was developed previously, to obtain an overall picture of the pulsed glow discharge. Typical results of the pre sent model are the densities of copper atoms and ions, the level population s of argon and copper excited levels, the erosion rate due to cathode sputt ering and the contributions due to argon ion, atom and copper ion bombardme nt, the rates of various collision processes in the plasma, as well as the optical emission intensities. The results are presented as a function of di stance from the cathode and as a function of time during and after the puls e.