Tailored Voltage Waveform Capacitively-Coupled Plasmas

A major limitation of large-area capacitively-coupled plasmas for materials processing is the inability to increase plasma density without increasing ion bombardment energy. Heil et al. (J. Phys. D 41. 165202, (2008)) demonstrated that for a driving voltage comprising one frequency, f, and it's harmonic 2f, the symmetry of the sheaths can be broken (the Electrical Asymmetry Effect, EAE). We have investigated large-area plasmas (50cm dia) in Ar driven by arbitrary voltage waveforms. Specifically we studied waveforms comprising sharp positive pulses (10-20ns wide, 15MHz repetition frequency). The voltage waveform was measured by an HV probe close to the powered electrode edge, the electron density was measured with a microwave hairpin resonator, the ion flux was measured by an array of planar ion flux probes in the grounded counter-electrode, and the power absorbed was determined from the current and voltage waveforms measured by a derivative probe. As well as the expected EAE observed in the electrode self-bias, we were able to demonstrate a dramatic increase in electron density (and concomitant increased power absorption) with reduced pulse-width at constant amplitude, in qualitative agreement with recent PIC simulations (Lafleur et al, APL 100, 194101(2012)).