Experimental verification of the Boltzmann relation at the wall in inductively coupled plasmas

Abstract

The radial profiles of the electron density at the bottom wall were measured from the center to the edge at argon 3 mTorr with an RF power of 200 W. Since the Boltzmann relation in terms of the fluid picture only describes the behavior of the confined particles, the escaping electrons, which are not confined in plasmas, were not expected to follow the Boltzmann relation. However, unexpected results were observed. The spatial profiles of the density of escaping electrons and the floating potential were well described by the Boltzmann relation with the electron temperature. Moreover, it was concluded that the behavior of the escaping electrons is also described by the generalized Boltzmann relation in terms of the kinetic model. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.