Electron heating by sheaths in radio frequency discharges

Electron heating mode transitions in dual frequency capacitive discharges

We consider electron heating in the sheath regions of capacitive discharges excited by a combination of two frequencies, one much higher than the other. There is a common supposition that in such discharges the higher frequency is the dominant source of electron heating. In this letter, we discuss closed analytic expressions quantifying the Ohmic and collisionless electron heating in a dual fre...

Resonant Particle Heating of an Electron Plasma by Oscillating Sheaths

The first unambiguous measurements of a bounce-resonance effect in a non-neutral plasma are presented. Two striking signatures are observed when a magnetized electron column is heated by oscillating an end sheath. First, the heating rate increases by a factor of 104 as the oscillation frequency is increased by a factor of 10 near the thermal electron bounce frequency. Second, the heating is enh...

Analytic solution for low-frequency rf sheaths in pulsed discharges.

The equations governing the evolution of rf-driven sheaths are solved analytically in the regime where the rf frequency is small compared to both the ionic plasma frequency and the ion transit time in the sheaths. Poincaré's map of first return is used to gain geometric insight into the dynamics of the circuit-sheath system. The requirements of minimizing wall bombardment while maximizing the e...

Collisionless heating in capacitive discharges enhanced by dual-frequency excitation.

We discuss collisionless electron heating in capacitive discharges excited by a combination of two disparate frequencies. By developing an analytical model, we find, contrary to expectation, that the net heating in this case is much larger than the sum of the effects occurring when the two frequencies act separately. This prediction is substantiated by kinetic simulations, which are also in exc...

Breakdown behavior in radio-frequency argon discharges