Experimental investigation of the radially-dependent ignition process in a pulsed capacitively coupled RF discharge: Effects of pressure, voltage and afterglow duration

Abstract The effects of the gas pressure, the voltage amplitude and the afterglow duration on the ignition process over 300 mm-diameter in a pulse-modulated capacitively coupled radio-frequency argon discharge are experimentally investigated. A home-made optical probe is used to measure the optical emission intensity (OEI) as a function of time since the beginning of each pulse at various radial positions. A voltage and a current probe are used to measure the voltage and current waveforms at the power feeding point and then the time-dependent power deposition is also obtained. It was found that the radial profile of the OEI exhibits complex evolution when changing these external conditions. At lower pressures, the ignition occurs earlier, and the radial-integral OEI and the power deposition overshoot more slightly during the ignition. By increasing the pressure, these two quantities overshoot more significantly, and the OEI gradually evolves from an edge-peaked radial profile to a center-high radial profile for a given time when the OEI increases rapidly during the ignition. When increasing the voltage amplitude, the ignition tends to occur earlier, featuring a more significant overshoot of the OEI and power deposition at a higher voltage. Compared to that at high voltage, the OEI exhibits a significant center-high radial profile at low voltage amplitude during the ignition. By increasing the afterglow duration, T off , the ignition is delayed and the overshoot becomes more significant, due to a lower initial electron density when each pulse is turned on. During the phase when the growth rate of the OEI versus time is maximum, the OEI exhibits different radial distributions, i.e., it appears a center-high profile at short T off , an edge-peaked profile at intermediate T off , and a center-high profile at relatively long T off .