Self-consistent multidimensional electron kinetic analysis for inductively coupled plasma sources

Based upon the kinetic equations coupled with electromagnetic analysis for the recently developed inductively coupled plasma sources (ICPS), a self-consistent electron kinetic model is presented for 2-D (r, z) in a cylindrically symmetric configuration space and 2-D (ν _∂, ν_z) in the velocity space, The EM model is based on the mode analysis, while the kinetic analysis gives the perturbed Maxwellian distribution of electrons by solving the Boltzmann-Vlasov equation. The kinetic analysis shows that the RF energy in an ICPS is extracted by a collisionless dissipation mechanism, once the electron thermovelocity is close to the RF phase velocities determined by the reactor height and mode indexes. In this context, the effect of varying the reactor geometry is reported in terms of the electron energy distribution function. The analytical results are compared to the experimental data of Barnes et al. (see Appl. Phys. Lett., vol.62, no.21, p.2622-4 (1993)), which shows qualitative agreements in many aspects