AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition
    Plasma Science and Technology Tuesday Sessions
       Session PS-TuP

Paper PS-TuP20
Formation of Multi-Peak Electron Velocity Distribution Function by Two-Stream Instability in a dc Discharge

Tuesday, October 29, 2013, 6:00 pm, Room Hall B

Session: Plasma Science and Technology Poster Session
Presenter: D. Sydorenko, University of Alberta, Canada
Authors: D. Sydorenko, University of Alberta, Canada
I.D. Kaganovich, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
A. Khrabrov, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
L. Chen, Tokyo Electron America
P. Ventzek, Tokyo Electron America
Correspondent: Click to Email
Interaction of an electron beam with a plasma is of particular importance for hybrid dc-rf coupled plasma sources used in plasma processing. Electron acceleration by high-frequency waves may explain the low-energy peak in the electron energy distribution function measured in plasma processing devices [1]. In the present paper, the collisionless electron heating in a dc plasma source is studied using the particle-in-cell code EDIPIC [2,3]. In simulations, electrons emitted from the cathode surface are accelerated through a dc bias electric field and form an 800 eV electron beam entering the bulk plasma. The beam excites electron plasma waves via the two-stream instability. In the region of strong plasma oscillations bulk electrons can be accelerated to substantial energies. These energetic electrons are correlated with the peaks in the eedf described in [1]. In this presentation we discuss factors impacting peak energy and magnitude such as plasma profile. [1] L. Chen and M. Funk, Langmuir wave standing wave resonance in DC/RF plasma, Proceedings of ICRP 2010. [2] D. Sydorenko, A. Smolyakov, I. Kaganovich, and Y. Raitses, Phys. Plasmas, 14, 013508 (2007). [3] D. Sydorenko, I. Kaganovich, Y. Raitses, and A. Smolyakov, Phys. Rev. Lett., 103, 145004 (2009).