Determination of Spatial Distributions of Plasma Parameters of a Compact Magnetron Discharge.

In this paper, the hardware-software high resolution measuring system for studying the spatial and spectral distributions of the radiation intensity of a magnetron discharge is described. The emission spectra are recorded and processed for subsequent determination of the temperature and density of plasma electrons. These parameters are calculated on the basis of a technique suggesting the absence of ionization equilibrium and the Boltzmann distribution of populations of energy levels of the plasma-forming gas. The data on the electron density, atomic distributions by excited states, and the degree of their deviation from equilibrium in the entire volume of the discharge are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]