Influence of the abnormal ratio of the dependence of cathode sputtering rate on the current in a glow discharge†

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Abstract
An experimental investigation of the dependence of cathode sputtering rate W on discharge current I has been carried out in n wide range of changes of abnormal ratio l\ln (in the different measurements I/In = l-6-37), where In is the current at which the discharge passes from normal to abnormal conditions. The measurements have been made with three experimental devices with iron cathodes and the gas filling a Penning mixture 99% Ne + 1% Ar. The pressure p in the devices was changed in the interval of p = 3—25.5 Torr, It is shown that in such a, wide range of changes I/In the dependence W(I) is no longer a power function. However, for convenient practical use of this dependence and for comparison with results of previous investigations, a good approach for this is the division of the range of changes of current I into two regions. In each of these regions the dependence W (I) may be well approximated by a power function W ∼ Im but with different values of power index m for both regions. A good agreement between the calculated and the experimental values of m for both regions of approximation is obtained. An explanation of the reasons which cause the change of m, when I/In is changed, has been proposed.

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