Experimental investigation on collisionless electron heating mechanism through electron energy probability function measurement in a low pressure inductively coupled plasma

Electron energy probability functions (EEPFs) were measured at various powers and frequencies in low pressure inductively coupled plasma. It is found that the EEPFs becomes flatten and the plateau region is shifted to lower energy, as driving frequency decreases or input power increases. The EEPFs with plateau energy region indicates that there is a powerful electron heating mechanism in semi-infinite discharge condition. This experimental result will be also compared to the simulation results including bounce resonance and transit time resonance heating.