Power transfer in magnetically assisted microwave discharges in argon

We present a theoretical determination of the wave-to-plasma power transfer in high frequency (HF) collisional argon plasmas in the presence of a static magnetic field. The study is based on the solutions to the homogeneous electron Boltzmann for an oscillating electric field composed of a right- and left-hand rotating parts, moving around the magnetic field lines. The power absorbed from the HF field in collisions is derived both for the right- and left-hand circularly polarized waves (R- and L-wave) as a function of the parameters Eo/N (ratio of the electric field amplitude to the gas number density), ω/N (ratio of the angular field frequency to N) and ωce/ω (ratio of the angular electron-cyclotron frequency to ω). The mean absorbed power per electron to maintain the plasma is also calculated for a container with non-conducting surfaces