Highly accurate control of sputtering processes is of paramount importance to industry. Plasma diagnostic equipment based on spectroscopic methods such as optical emission spectroscopy (OES) have been commercially available for many years and have the ability to deliver a high level of accuracy. Despite this; their complexity, demand for operator time, and disregard for the vast majority of the optical emission spectrum have rendered them as unpopular, and they are rarely used in manufacturing lines. This article introduces the measurement of the chromaticity of the, plasma as a new method of analysis, as an alternative to OES. This method is simple, while maintaining a high level of sensitivity. Chromaticity monitors a wide range of the optical emission spectrum, obtaining a large amount of process information. It also averages and simplifies the data, making them easier to analyze. © 2005 American Vacuum Society.