Thermalization of sputtered aluminium atoms in an electron cyclotron resonance plasma source

The transverse temperature of sputtered aluminium atoms in an electron cyclotron resonance discharge has been calculated from the shapes of their Doppler broadening emission lines, which were measured with a pressure scanning Fabry–Perot interferometer. This temperature decreases from 0.8 to 0.28 eV at a distance of 17.5 cm from the Al target when krypton pressure rises from 0.4 to 4 mTorr. For a discharge in argon aluminium temperature falls from 0.5 to 0.18 eV for the same condition.