A calorimetric probe for plasma diagnostics

Abstract

A calorimetric probe for plasma diagnostics is presented, which allows measurements of the power taken by a test substrate. The substrate can be biased and used as an electric probe in order to obtain information about the composition of the total heating power. A new calibration technique for calorimetric probes, which uses monoenergetic electrons at low pressure, has been developed for an improved accuracy. The use of the probe is exemplified with an experiment where both energetic neutral atoms and ions heat the test substrate.