Study on the Effect of Base Pressure on Magnetron Sputtering Discharge Plasma by Optical Emission Spectroscopy

Argon plasma was generated by DC magnetron sputtering discharge at a constantinput power and sputtering pressure. The emission spectra of the argon plasma, in a region of300 nm to 800 nm, were recorded with three different base pressures (4×10;Pa, 13×10;Pa and26×10;Pa). From the spectra, the Boltzmann temperature （T;） was calculated by using theatomic Boltzmann plot method. The intensity ratio of N and N;lines provided the information onthe changes in the degree of dissociation of nitrogen molecules. The obtained results showed thatwith the increase in base pressure the dissociation of N2 increased and the Boltzmann temperature（T;） decreased.