Secondary Electron Emission in Glow Discharge Plasmas

Abstract

In this study, the emission coefficient of secondary electrons for some common gas discharges employed in thin film deposition processes and techniques was determined as function of some affecting parameters. This coefficient may play negative role in the optimization of discharge plasma employed for practical uses and applications. Therefore, this coefficient is often minimized even though the experimental conditions are shifted from their optima in order to ensure that the consumption of supplied power is high as much as possible. This study was supported by experimental data from a reactive plasma sputtering system used for deposition of some metal oxide and nitride thin films.