Collisionless bounce resonance heating in dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasmas

Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Jul 29;107(5):055002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.055002. Epub 2011 Jul 27.

Abstract

We present the experimental evidence of the collisionless electron bounce resonance heating (BRH) in low-pressure dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasmas. In capacitively coupled plasmas at low pressures when the discharge frequency and gap satisfy a certain resonant condition, the high energy beamlike electrons can be generated by fast sheath expansion, and heated by the two sheaths coherently, thus the BRH occurs. By using a combined measurement of a floating double probe and optical emission spectroscopy, we demonstrate the effect of BRH on plasma properties, such as plasma density and light emission, especially in dual-frequency discharges.