Microwave discharges produced by surface waves in argon gas

Abstract

Reports on an experiment in argon discharges produced by surface waves at 2.45 GHz. A self-consistent description of these discharges at low pressure (p<10 Torr) is presented. Characteristics such as the electron density, the maintaining electric field (E), the collision frequency for momentum transfer v and the mean power required for maintaining the electron-ion pair theta are determined as functions of the product of the pressure and the plasma diameter. In particular scaling laws are verified for v and theta . It is concluded that experimental surface-wave discharges behave similarly to positive-column discharges.