Reactive process and hysteresis effect in magnetron with magnetized hollow cathode enhanced target

The hysteresis effect in the reactive process was investigated in the magnetron with a magnetized hollow cathode enhanced target (HoCET) in which the target is coupled with the hollow cathode magnetized by the magnetic field of the magnetron. The process, where both the magnetron and hollow cathode plasmas are combined, is compared to the magnetron sputtering. The hysteresis curve in the magnetized HoCET magnetron, recording the titanium emission intensity versus varying content of nitrogen in the gas mixture exhibits a local maximum on the increasing part of the curve. The hysteresis curve is shifted to lower contents of nitrogen than the hysteresis curve for the magnetron. It is concluded that more efficient utilization of the reactive gas takes place in this device.