Microarcing in a Helicon Plasma Reactor
Date
2011
Authors
Ling, Julia
Boswell, Roderick
Lafleur, Trevor
Charles, Christine
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE Inc)
Abstract
Microarcing is investigated with a helicon plasma reactor in an argon plasma. A Langmuir probe was used to measure the floating potential during arc events, and a stainless-steel probe arm on which microarcs occurred was used to measure the associated current flow. The frequency of microarc events (MAEs) was analyzed with varying radio-frequency powers and gas pressures and was found to strongly depend on the floating potential. The microarcs were shown to cause a drop in the bulk floating potential that lasted on the order of hundreds of microseconds to milliseconds. During this period, a current on the order of an ampere was found to flow to the site of the MAE, leading to a total charge flow on the order of 10-3C.
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Keywords
Keywords: Argon plasmas; Current flows; Floating potentials; Gas pressures; Helicon plasma; microarc; Microarcings; Radio frequencies; spark; Total charge; Argon; Plasma applications; Plasmas; Probes; Stainless steel; Helicons Helicon plasma system; microarc; spark
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Source
IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
Type
Journal article
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Open Access
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Restricted until
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