AUTHOR=Chatterjee Sanghamitro , Bhattacharjee Sudeep , Charles Christine , Boswell Rod 

TITLE=Electron energy probability function and L-p similarity in low pressure inductively coupled bounded plasma

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physics

VOLUME=3

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2015.00007

DOI=10.3389/fphy.2015.00007

ISSN=2296-424X

ABSTRACT=<p>Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations are carried out to investigate the effect of <italic>discharge length</italic> (<italic>L</italic>) and <italic>pressure</italic> (<italic>p</italic>) on Electron Energy Probability Function (EEPF) in a low pressure radio frequency (rf) inductively coupled plasma (ICP) at 13.56 MHz. It is found that for both cases of varying <italic>L</italic> (0.1–0.5 m) and <italic>p</italic> (1–10 mTorr), the EEPF is a bi-Maxwellian with a step in the bounded direction (<italic>x</italic>) and non-Maxwellian with a hot tail in the symmetric unbounded directions (<italic>y, z</italic>). The plasma space potential decreases with increase in both <italic>L</italic> and <italic>p</italic>, the trapped electrons having energies in the range 0–20 eV. In a conventional discharge bounded in all directions, we infer that <italic>L</italic> and <italic>p</italic> are similarity parameters for low energy electrons trapped in the bulk plasma that have energies below the plasma space potential (<italic>eV<sub>p</sub></italic>). The simulation results are consistent with a particle balance model.</p>