Abstract
A brief introduction to the generation of plasma discharges by means of dc or rf electric fields is given. The structure of low-pressure discharges with cold and hot cathodes is discussed. The processes in the cathode fall are described by Paschen’s law. The negative glow is an example for non-local energy sources. The particle balance in the positive column is used to introduce similarity laws. Two types of rf discharges, capacitive and inductive, are described in terms of the fundamental mechanisms that energize the electrons. The periodic sheath expansion and collapse in capacitive discharges is analyzed. The appearance of a self-bias in capacitively-coupled rf discharges and its control by the electrical asymmetry effect is explained. The E and H-mode of operation of inductive discharges are discussed in terms of the skin effect. A new section describes magnetron sputtering and HIPIMS discharges.
The clip, the clop! All cla. Glass crash. The (klikkaklakkaklaskaklopatzklatschabattacreppycrotty- graddaghsemmihsammihnouithappladdyappladdypkonpkot!).
James Joyce, Finnegans Wake
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Notes
- 1.
In practice, this coefficient describes the sum of secondary emission by ions and metastable atoms and the photoemission by UV radiation in the cathode fall.
- 2.
Prof. Sanborn C. Brown told the anecdote of the gas-discharge pioneer Wilhelm Hittorf, who attempted to find the maximum length of the positive column [407]. “Week after week his discharge tube grew as he added meter after meter [...] His tube went all the way across the room, turned and came back, turned again until his laboratory seemed full of thin glass tubing. It was summer [...] and he opened the window to make it bearable. Suddenly from outside came the howl of a pack of dogs in full pursuit and flying through the window came a terrified cat to land [...] in the middle of the weeks and weeks of labor. ‘Until an unfortunate accident terminated my experiment’, Hittorf wrote, ‘the positive column appeared to extend without limit.’ ”.
- 3.
For operating powerful rf generators, safety issues must be observed according to accepted national lab standards. Operating power generators at other frequencies than 13.56 MHz may be in conflict with the rules set by communications authorities, such as the FCC in the United States.
- 4.
ICPs are intrinsically high-power rf discharges. Therefore, the safety issues and radio-interference problems need even more attention.
- 5.
This terminology should not be confused with the high-confinement mode in tokamaks.
- 6.
The TRIM software is available at http://www.srim.org/. A simple sputter yield calculator based on [437] can be found at https://www.iap.tuwien.ac.at/www/surface/sputteryield.
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Piel, A. (2017). Plasma Generation. In: Plasma Physics. Graduate Texts in Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63427-2_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63427-2_11
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