Formation, Growth, and Behavior of Dust Particles in a Sputtering Discharge

Dust particle growth instability and residual dust charges in a rf discharge have been studied. Dust particles were grown by sputtering of a polymer material previously deposited on the electrodes. We show that two regimes of the dust particle growth instability exist and are characterized by their frequencies. An empirical explanation based on the assumption of different dust particle growth rates is proposed for the existence of these regimes. We also show that dust particles do keep residual charges for a long time in afterglow plasma.