In magnetron sputtering systems, an arc and arcing may happen at the cathode of a magnetron when operating in a reactive environment. To avoid their occurrence, pulse operating modes are used. For this, rectangular unipolar or bipolar pulses can be used or in the form of a sine wave with frequencies from 10 kHz to 1 MHz. The purpose of this work is to study the electronic component of a magnetron discharge when it is excited by a pulse in the form of a damped sine wave, the so-called impact excitation. A comparison of its characteristics with similar characteristics of a magnetron discharge which is excited by unipolar rectangular pulses of the same duration, also. A physically topological model of a magnetron sputtering system has been created to compare the characteristics of an electron cloud when a discharge is excited by rectangular pulses and pulses in the form of a damped sine wave. A pulse of this shape is obtained by applying a current pulse to the oscillating circuit. A feature of this discharge is the ultrahigh voltage of the first pulses. This is caused by resonant phenomena in the power circuit. The work presents a 2D design of a simulated magnetron sputtering system, a structural diagram of a physical-topological model, and input parameters. The physical models for calculating magnetic and electric fields, the distribution in space and time of electron density and their energy are also given. As a result of the calculations, the distribution of the magnetic and electric fields in the magnetron sputtering system, the distribution of electron density in space and time, the distribution of electron energy in space and time of electrons during rectangular and impact excitation of the discharge were obtained. An analysis of the results confirmed the feature previously indicated by other authors. This is the formation of an increased electron density at the fronts of discharge excitation pulses. This can be explained by the acquisition by the electrons at the front of the momentum of energy which corresponds to the ionization cross section of Ar atoms. The electron energy leaves the optimal energy range for ionization of Ar atoms with a further increase of the voltage. Therefore, the ionization efficiency of the operating gas atoms decreases. It was also found that upon impact excitation of a magnetron discharge: 1) The electron energy above the surface of the target is several times higher than when the discharge was excited by a rectangular pulse. Therefore, the sputtering of the target surface is more intense; 2) The erosion zone of the target increases and therefore the utilization rate of the target material increases 3) Ions bombard and sputter the deposited film in the positive period of the sine wave, if it is under the ground potential.
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