A Comparative Study of Single and Double Langmuir Probe Techniques for RF Plasma Characterization

In this study, the plasma density and electron temperature of Radio Frequency (RF) plasmas were determined by three types of Langmuir probes, namely a conventional double probe, a single probe with RF choke and a single probe with RF choke and compensating electrode. The same plasmas were characterized by the three probes, each performing three measurements per plasma condition, in order to determine the precision of the measurement results. After performing a comparative analysis, which looked at the precision and the accuracy of these results, the conclusion is that the double probe, which has already the advantage of the simplest construction, yields the most reliable results for both capacitively and inductively coupled RF plasmas. The single probe with RF choke and compensating electrode has a similar precision as the single probe without compensating electrode, but its accuracy is better.