2020/12/04 by Sanket Patil, Patil, Sanket, Sarveshwar Sharma +7
Engineering · Medicine · #FOS: Physical sciences #Metal and Thin Film Mechanics #Plasma Applications and Diagnostics #Plasma Diagnostics and Applications #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2012.02752
openalex publication_date 2020/12/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report the existence of an enhanced operating regime for a high-frequency, low-pressure capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) discharge in the presence of a weak magnetic field applied parallel to the electrodes. Our PIC-MCC simulations show that the plasma density and ion flux values exhibit a sharp peak when the electron cyclotron frequency equals half of the applied RF frequency. The physical mechanism responsible for this behaviour is traced to a synchronization between the oscillatory motion of the electrode sheath edge and the motion of a set of electrons reflected by this sheath. These electrons gain a substantial amount of energy that causes a concomitant higher ionisation leading to a peak in the ion flux. Our theoretical findings should be easy to verify experimentally in present day CCP devices and could provide useful guidelines for enhancing the operational performance of CCP devices in industrial applications.