Time-resolved Measurements of Ion Energy Distributions and Optical Emissions in Pulsed Radio-Frequency Discharges

Published

March 1, 2000

Author(s)

Yicheng Wang, Eric C. Benck, Martin Misakian, M. Edamura, James K. Olthoff

Abstract

In pulse-modulated inductively coupled plasmas generated in CF₄:Ar mixtures, a transition between a capacitive coupling mode (E mode) and an inductive coupling mode (H mode) was observed. For a pulsed plasma in a 50%CF₄:50%Ar volume mixture with the peak rf power of 200 W at 13.56 MHz and the modulation frequency at 500 Hz with a duty cycle of 95%, the E->H mode transition occurs repetitively 0.75 ms after each rf pulse is applied. This long delay in the mode transition allows us to perform not only time-resolved measurements of optical emission and electrical characteristics but also time-resolved measurements of ion energy distributions at the grounded electrode. These measurements show that a relatively short rf off period can severely perturb the equilibrium plasma state and its recovery may take much longer than the rf off period.

Citation

Journal of Applied Physics

Volume

87

Issue

5

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

discharges, inductively coupled plasmas, plasmas, pulsed plasmas

Citation

Wang, Y. , Benck, E. , Misakian, M. , Edamura, M. and Olthoff, J. (2000), Time-resolved Measurements of Ion Energy Distributions and Optical Emissions in Pulsed Radio-Frequency Discharges, Journal of Applied Physics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=9483 (Accessed October 11, 2025)