High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) discharge has become a core technology in the field of physical vapor deposition (PVD) due to high ionization rate. In view of the complex physical field and the high peak power (~MW) in HiPIMS discharge, the uneven plasma seriously affects the performance of the thin films. From the temporal/spatial characteristics of HiPIMS discharge plasma, the temporal/spatial evolution characteristics of plasma parameters and the dynamic behavior of pulsed plasma in the process of HiPIMS pulse discharge in recent years were analyzed based on the characteristics of discharge target current, plasma impedance, ion saturation current, and the corresponding interactions and motion trajectories of various particles at different time and space sites, which mainly included the temporal evolution law of plasma physical quantity, the spatial distribution behavior of complex physical field, the diffusion and transmission mechanism of particle density and energy, and the characterization method of target particle ionization degree. The unstable transmission characteristics of gas atom dilution effect, gas circulation, bipolar diffusion, plasma wave, rotating spoke, etc. were also comprehensively described. In addition, according to the temporal/spatial characteristics of plasma, thefactors of lower deposition rate in HiPIMS were summarized, and the methods and mechanism of increasing deposition rate were introduced. Finally, the existing problems and development direction in the research on the temporal/spatial characteristics of HiPIMS are pointed out.