| AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session PS-WeM |
| Session: | Plasma Sources and Novel Mechanisms for Generating Plasmas |
| Presenter: | Lawrence Overzet, The University of Texas at Dallas |
| Authors: | J. Poulose, The University of Texas at Dallas L.J. Overzet, The University of Texas at Dallas M.J. Goeckner, The University of Texas at Dallas S. Shannon, North Carolina State University D. Coumou, MKS Instruments |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Plasma ignition induces abrupt impedance changes due to the plasma sheath and bulk formation. These transitions can induce nonlinear changes in the instantaneous RF voltage and current frequencies despite the fact that the RF frequency is typically assumed to be fixed. These transitions are of particular interest in the application of frequency tuning of matching networks to maximize power transfer in pulsed plasma. In this presentation, we report on time resolved studies of the RF frequency and plasma impedance during pulsed plasma ignition using both electropositive (Ar) and electronegative (CF4/O2/Ar) gas mixtures. The center frequency is found to vary in time corresponding to fast changes in the complex plasma impedance when the plasma sheath is re-forming.