Experimental and numerical study of a low-frequency ferromagnetic enhanced inductively coupled plasma

Low-frequency ferromagnetic-enhanced inductively coupled plasma (FMICP) has been investigated under conditions typical for large-scale plasma processing. Radial profiles of ion density and plasma floating potential were determined with a Langmuir probe. A self-consistent radial kinetic model of argon FMICP was developed, based on the simultaneous solution of a non-local Boltzmann equation for the electron energy distribution function, balance equations for the ion and metastable argon atom densities, the thermal balance equation and the Poisson equation for a self-consistent radial electric field. A satisfactory agreement between the numerical and experimental results was found that confirms the validity of the presented approach to the description of the FMICP. (paper)