Density Profile of a Plasma Layer Formed by an Electron Beam

Resumo

Results of particle-in-cell simulation of the formation of a near-wall plasma layer produced by an ionization source remote from the chamber walls are verified experimentally. The measured profiles of the density and temperature of the plasma produced by an electron beam in two modes are compared: (i) gas is ionized by a low-density electron beam, while collective interactions are almost absent (beam-induced plasma), and (ii) gas is mainly ionized by plasma electrons heated due to the development of two-stream instability (beam−plasma discharge). The measured spatial profiles of the parameters of the beam-induced plasma are found to qualitatively agree with the model ones.