Electrical characterization of radiofrequency glow discharge used for optical emission spectroscopy
Résumé
This paper considers the electrical characterization of radiofrequency glow discharge plasmas used for optical emission spectroscopy. The total discharge current and the applied voltage are measured using conventional techniques. With a simple analytical approach and using adequate assumptions that will be detailed in the paper, we show that it is possible to estimate the different components of the total discharge current and to characterize electrically the sheath and the plasma region of the discharge. This allows information to be obtained on the electric field on the sample, the sheath length, the ion density in the sheath and the plasma density.