This article reports on experimental study of the discharge in the low pressure plasma jet sputtering system operated in the continuous DC regime of the discharge excitation. Presented measurements were focused on the description of the working pressure impact on the basic discharge characteristics.
The pressure dependence of the gas flow velocity from the nozzle was examined by means of Pitot tube. Further an approximate measurement of the discharge current spatial distribution was realized as well.
The second half of the article presents results from Langmuir probe measurements under the conditions of low pressures in the range of units of pascals. These conditions are of special importance in some particular applications especially in preparation of thin layers with high crystallinity.
Used experimental setup enabled to perform Langmuir probe diagnostic with spatial resolution both in the plasma jet axis direction and in the direction perpendicular to it.