Propagating double layers in electronegative plasmas
- Laboratoire Plasma et Conversion d'Energie (LAPLACE), Universite Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne, Toulouse Cedex 31062 (France) and Space Plasma Power and Propulsion Group, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, ACT 0200 (Australia)
Double layers have been observed to propagate from the source region to the diffusion chamber of a helicon-type reactor filled up with a low-pressure mixture of Ar/SF{sub 6} [N. Plihon et al., J. Appl. Phys. 98, 023306 (2005)]. In the present paper the most significant and new experimental results are reported. A fully self-consistent hybrid model in which the electron energy distribution function, the electron temperature, and the various source terms are calculated is developed to investigate these propagating double layers. The spontaneous formation of propagating double layers is only observed in the simulation for system in which the localized inductive heating is combined with small diameter chambers. The conditions of formation and the properties of the propagating double layers observed in the simulation are in good agreement with that of the experiment. By correlating the results of the experiment and the simulation, a formation mechanism compatible with ion two-stream instability is proposed.
- OSTI ID:
- 20975014
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 14, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2736946; (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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