Optical imaging is performed with temporal and spatial resolution in a capacitively coupled plasma. The region imaged is in front of an RF biased planar probe embedded in the center of the ground electrode of a standard Gaseous Electronics Conference (GEC) reference cell. Two main periods of interest stand out. The local sheath induced by the biasing and the main plasma bulk are affected. The f...

A plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition reactor has been developed to synthesis horizontally aligned carbon nanotubes. The width of the aligning sheath was modelled based on a collisionless, quasi-neutral, Child's law ion sheath where these estimates were empirically validated by direct Langmuir probe measurements, thereby confirming the proposed reactors ability to extend the existing she...

[1] Dust grains have been observed to levitate above the surface of the Moon and as spokes in Saturn’s rings. In order to gain a better understanding of these observations, we have performed levitation experiments on dust grains in a low-density plasma. Plasma sheath potential profiles, measured by an emissive probe, are used to determine the spatial dependence of the electric force on a grain ...

This study investigates the axisymmetric plasma flow field near a Faraday probe. A hybrid fluid PIC computational code simulates heavy particles with a Particle In Cell (PIC) model, and electrons with a detailed model derived from conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. These simulations show significant departures from the planar Bohm sheath solution and from previous simulations using the...

A novel nonlinear effect of anomalously deep penetration of an external radio-frequency electric field into a plasma is described. A self-consistent kinetic treatment reveals a transition region between the sheath and the plasma. Because of the electron velocity modulation in the sheath, bunches in the energetic electron density are formed in the transition region adjacent to the sheath. The wi...

[1] The lunar surface represents a complex plasma environment due to the presence of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the incoming solar wind flux and charged, levitated micron‐ and sub‐micron sized dust particles. Photoemission due to solar UV radiation dominates the charging environment, creating a photoelectron sheath above the lunar surface. To further investigate the dusty plasma environm...

A model of a two-stage thruster with anode layer is developed based on a two-dimensional hydrodynamic approach. Each stage is considered separately, while the solution of the first stage provides the boundary conditions for the second stage.Current-voltage characteristic of the discharge in thefirst stage is calculated and is found to be in agreement with experiment. In the acceleration channel...

Quasi-DC pulsed plasmas are gaining interest for the formation of ultra-shallow junctions (USJ). In this paper, the scaling of plasma doping for USJ is discussed using results from a 2-dimensional model. A pulsed plasma is generated adjacent to the silicon wafer using biases up to 20 kV in pressures of 10s mTorr. The consequences of pulse width, bias voltage waveform, ICP power, and pressure on...

Problems associated with telemetry blackout caused by the plasma sheath surrounding a hypersonic vehicle are addressed. In particular, the critical nature of overcoming this limitation for test and evaluation purposes is detailed. Since the telemetry blackout causes great concern for atmospheric cruise vehicles, ballistic missiles, and reentry vehicles, there have been many proposed approaches ...

A numerical code that solves self-consistent radio-frequency (RF) sheathplasma interactions in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies is developed based on a nonlinear finite element technique. The present code solves for plasma waves based on the cold plasma model subject to a sheath boundary condition. The finite element procedure has been implemented for oneand two-dimensional analyses using...