Surface-wave sustained plasmas: Toward a better understanding of RF and microwave discharges

An approach is presented that unifies the description of the various existing RF and microwave discharges. It is based on two essential facts: (i) it is not the spatial distribution of the high frequency (HF) electric field intensity but its spatial average that plays in the power transfer to the plasma; (ii) the power θ required to maintain an electron in the discharge is governed by charged particle losses, which are independent of the HF E-field. This enables one to model separately the maintenance processes of HF discharges and the electrodynamic properties of HF circuits sustaining the plasma, although the discharge and the HF field are actually coupled self-consistently. The influence of the field frequency on the properties of these plasmas is also summarized. copyright 1996 American Institute of Physics