AVS 50th International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Monday Sessions
       Session PS-MoA

Paper PS-MoA7
Physics of High-pressure Helium and Argon Plasmas

Monday, November 3, 2003, 4:00 pm, Room 314

Session: Plasma Sources
Presenter: M. Moravej, University of California, Los Angeles
Authors: M. Moravej, University of California, Los Angeles
S.E. Babayan, University of California, Los Angeles
X. Yang, University of California, Los Angeles
G.R. Nowling, University of California, Los Angeles
R.F. Hicks, University of California, Los Angeles
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The physics of helium and argon plasmas was investigated in the pressure range of 10 to 1000 Torr. The current and voltage waveforms and the current-voltage plots were obtained at varying pressures for both gases. The waveforms indicated that before the plasma was struck the load was purely capacitive for both gases, however, after the discharge was ignited, the argon plasma exhibited a greater resistive nature than the helium. The IV curves at 760 Torr indicate that the breakdown voltage for argon was approximately 500 V higher than that of helium. From these IV measurements, the helium and argon plasma densities were calculated to be 3.48*10@super 11@ and 3.15*10@super 11@ cm@super -3@, respectively and the electron temperatures were determined to be 1.3 and 0.3 eV, respectively. The effect of pressure and of impurities, O@sub 2@ and CF@sub 4@, on the physics of the plasma was investigated by these measurements and will be presented at the meeting.