Review of relaxation oscillations in plasma processing discharges

Relaxation oscillations due to plasma instabilities at frequencies ranging from a few Hz to tens of kHz have been observed in various types of plasma processing discharges. Relaxation oscillations have been observed in electropositive capacitive discharges between a powered anode and a metallic chamber whose periphery is grounded through a slot with dielectric spacers. The oscillations of time-varying optical emission from the main discharge chamber show, for example, a high-frequency （- 40 kHz） relaxation oscillation at 13.33Pa, with an absorbed power being nearly the peripheral breakdown power, and a low-frequency （- 3 Hz） oscillation, with an even higher absorbed power. The high-frequency oscillation is found to ignite plasma in the slot, but usually not in the peripheral chamber. The kilohertz oscillations are modelled using an electromagnetic model of the slot impedance, coupled to a circuit analysis of the system including the matching network. The model results are in general agreement with the experimental observations, and indicate a variety of behaviours dependent on the matching conditions. In low-pressure inductive discharges, oscillations appear in the transition between low-density capacitively driven and high-density inductively driven discharges when attaching gases such as SF6 and Ar/SF6 mixtures are used. Oscillations of charged particles, plasma potential, and light, at frequencies ranging from a few Hz to tens of kHz, are seen for gas pressures between 0.133 Pa and 13.33 Pa and discharge powers in a range of 75 1200 W. The region of instability increases as the plasma becomes more electronegative, and the frequency of plasma oscillation increases as the power, pressure, and gas flow rate increase. A volume-averaged （global） model of the kilohertz instability has been developed; the results obtained from the model agree well with the experimental observations.

Fluid simulation of the pulsed bias effect on inductively coupled nitrogen discharges for low-voltage plasma immersion ion implantation

Planar radio frequency inductively coupled plasmas（ICP） are employed for low-voltage ion implantation processes,with capacitive pulse biasing of the substrate for modulation of the ion energy. In this work, a two-dimensional（2D） selfconsistent fluid model has been employed to investigate the influence of the pulsed bias power on the nitrogen plasmas for various bias voltages and pulse frequencies. The results indicate that the plasma density as well as the inductive power density increase significantly when the bias voltage varies from 0 V to-4000 V, due to the heating of the capacitive field caused by the bias power. The N＋fraction increases rapidly to a maximum at the beginning of the power-on time, and then it decreases and reaches the steady state at the end of the glow period. Moreover, it increases with the bias voltage during the power-on time, whereas the N2-＋ fraction exhibits a reverse behavior. When the pulse frequency increases to 25 kHz and40 kHz, the plasma steady state cannot be obtained, and a rapid decrease of the ion density at the substrate surface at the beginning of the glow period is observed.

Diagnostics of Argon Inductively Coupled Plasma and Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma by Optical Emission Spectroscopy

An experimental setup was built up to carry out radio frequency (RF) inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), and to depict the optical emission spectra (OES) of the discharges. OES from argon ICP and DBD plasmas in visible and near ultraviolet region were measured. For argon ICP, the higher RF power input (higher than 500 W for our machine), the higher degree of argon plasma ionization. But that doesn't mean a higher mean electron energy. With the increase in the power input, the mean electron energy increases slightly, whereas the density of electron increases apparently On the contrary, argon DBD discharge behaves in the manner of a pulsed DC discharge on optical emission spectroscopy and V-I characteristics. DBD current is composed of a series of pulses equally spaced in temporal domain. The Kinetics of DBD emission strength is mainly governed by the frequency of the current pulse.

Fluid simulation of inductively coupled Ar/O_2 plasmas:Comparisons with experiment

In this work, a two-dimensional fluid model has been employed to study the characteristics of Ar/O2 radio frequency（RF） inductively coupled plasma discharges. The emphasis of this work has been put on the influence of the external parameters（i.e., the RF power, the pressure, and the Ar/O2 gas ratio） on the plasma properties. The numerical results show that the RF power has a significant influence on the amplitude of the plasma density rather than on the spatial distribution.However, the pressure and the Ar/O2 gas ratio affect not only the amplitude of the plasma density, but also the spatial uniformity. Finally, the comparison between the simulation results and the experimental data has been made at different gas pressures and oxygen contents, and a good agreement has been achieved.

Power absorption,plasma parameters and wave structure in inductive RF plasma source with low value external magnetic field

The efficiency of radio-frequency(RF)power absorption,RF magnetic field structure and plasma parameters were measured in cylindrical inductive RF plasma sources 20 cm in diameter and 22,32,53 cm in length with a low value external magnetic field.The experiments were carried out in argon at pressures of 13-140 m Pa.The RF power supply changed from 200 W to 800 W.The spiral antenna was used for sustaining the discharge.It was shown that efficiency of RF power absorption depended nonlinearly on the external magnetic field values.At maximal values of the RF power absorption efficiency,the axial distributions of longitudinal Bzand azimuthal Bφcomponents of RF magnetic field manifested the formation of the partially standing wave with a half wavelength close to 8 cm.At the same conditions,the axial dependence of the radial RF magnetic field component Brdiffered drastically.It was concluded that the Bz and Bφamplitudes were largely determined by the RF field of Trivelpiece-Gould wave,while Br amplitude represented the radial RF field of the helicon wave.