Trade-off in perpendicular electric field control using negatively biased emissive end-electrodes

The benefits of thermionic emission from negatively biased electrodes for perpendicular electric field control in a magnetized plasma are examined through its combined effects on the sheath and on the plasma potential variation along magnetic field lines. By increasing the radial current flowing through the plasma thermionic emission is confirmed to improve control over the plasma potential at the sheath edge compared to the case of a cold electrode. Conversely, thermionic emission is shown to be responsible for an increase of the plasma potential drop along magnetic field lines in the quasi-neutral plasma. These results suggest that there exists a trade-off between electric field longitudinal uniformity and amplitude when using negatively biased emissive electrodes to control the perpendicular electric field in a magnetized plasma.

Quasi-neutral limit for the Euler–Poisson system in the presence of plasma sheaths with spherical symmetry

The purpose of this paper is to mathematically investigate the formation of a plasma sheath near the surface of a ball-shaped material immersed in a bulk plasma, and to obtain qualitative information of such a plasma sheath layer. Specifically, we study existence and the quasi-neutral limit behavior of the stationary spherical symmetric solutions for the Euler–Poisson equations in a three-dimensional annular domain. We first propose a suitable condition on the velocity at the sheath edge, referred as to Bohm criterion for the annulus, and under this condition together with the constant Dirichlet boundary conditions for the potential, we show that there exists a unique stationary spherical symmetric solution. Moreover, we study the quasi-neutral limit behavior by establishing [Formula: see text] estimate of the difference of the solutions to the Euler–Poisson equations and its quasi-neutral limiting equations, incorporated with the correctors for the boundary layers. The quasi-neutral limit analysis employing the correctors and their pointwise estimates enables us to obtain detailed asymptotic behaviors including the convergence rates in [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] norms as well as the thickness of the boundary layers as a consequence of the pointwise estimates.

Using dust as probes to determine sheath extent and structure

Two in situ experimental methods are presented in which dust particles are used to determine the extent of the sheath and gain information about the time-averaged electric force profile within a radio frequency (RF) plasma sheath. These methods are advantageous because they are not only simple and quick to carry out, but they also can be performed using standard dusty plasma experimental equipment. In the first method, dust particles are tracked as they fall through the plasma towards the lower electrode. These trajectories are then used to determine the electric force on the particle as a function of height as well as the extent of the sheath. In the second method, dust particle levitation height is measured across a wide range of RF voltages. Similarities were observed between the two experiments, but in order to understand the underlying physics behind these observations, the same conditions were replicated using a self-consistent fluid model. Through comparison of the fluid model and experimental results, it is shown that the particles exhibiting a levitation height that is independent of RF voltage indicate the sheath edge – the boundary between the quasineutral bulk plasma and the sheath. Therefore, both of these simple and inexpensive, yet effective, methods can be applied across a wide range of experimental parameters in any ground-based RF plasma chamber to gain useful information regarding the sheath, which is needed for interpretation of dusty plasma experiments.

Dust and plasma properties measured using two confined particles

We consider two isolated, interacting dust particles confined in plasma. Measurements of normal mode frequencies are used to determine the dust charge, the Debye shielding length and the anisotropy of the confining potential well. For dust particles confined near the sheath edge, the vertical electric field and an effective electron temperature are also determined. This method is used to characterize the sheath above a short rectangular trench in the powered electrode of a radio-frequency discharge.

Electron heating modes and frequency coupling effects in dual-frequency capacitive CF4 plasmas

Two types of capacitive dual-frequency discharges, used in plasma processing applications to achieve the separate control of the ion flux, Гi, and the mean ion energy, <Ei>, at the electrodes, operated in CF4, are investigated by particle-in-cell simulations: (i) In classical dual-frequency discharges, driven by significantly different frequencies (1.937 MHz + 27.12 MHz), <Ei> and Гi are controlled by the voltage amplitudes of the low-frequency and high-frequeny components, ΦLF and ΦHF, respectively. (ii) In electrically asymmetric (EA) discharges, operated at a fundamental frequency and its second harmonic (13.56 MHz + 27.12 MHz), ΦLF and ΦHF control Гi, whereas the phase shift between the driving frequencies, θ, is varied to adjust <Ei>.We focus on the effect of changing the control parameter for <Ei> on the electron heating and ionization dynamics and on Гi. We find that in both types of dual-frequency strongly electronegative discharges, changing the control parameter results in a complex effect on the electron heating and ionization dynamics: in classical dual-frequency discharges, besides the frequency coupling affecting the sheath expansion heating, additional frequency coupling mechanisms influence the electron heating in the plasma bulk and at the collapsing sheath edge; in EA dual-frequency discharges the electron heating in the bulk results in asymmetric ionization dynamics for values of θ around 45°, i.e., in the case of a symmetric applied