  The discharges in high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) have been
reported to consist of azimuthally inhomogeneous plasma with locally increased
light emission. The luminous zones seemingly travel around the racetrack and
are implicated in generation of the high ion kinetic energies observed in
HiPIMS. We show that the inhomogeneities smooth out at high discharge current
to yield azimuthally homogeneous plasma. This may have implications for the
spatial and kinetic energy distribution of sputtered particles, and therefore
also on the thin films deposited by high power impulse magnetron sputtering.
