Plasma Interaction with Boundary Surfaces in Low-Pressure Radio-Frequency Capacitive Discharge

Abstract

A particular case of a problem on interaction of plasma with a surface is examined experimentally. We study interaction of its own plasma with boundary surfaces in a low-pressure radio-frequency (RF) capacitive discharge (RFCD) by considering their functions. On the basis of the physical model of RFCD substantiated earlier, we examine experimentally the physical conditions taking place in a near-electrode layer of space discharge, which lead to formation of pulsed electron beams and highly non-equilibrium plasma electron energy spectrum. We verify experimentally the known fact that in RFCD it is possible to generate natural oscillating LC circuits modulating the discharge current, and the conditions of their excitation by their own electron beams are clarified.