Electron heating mode transition induced by mixing radio frequency and ultrahigh frequency dual frequency powers in capacitive discharges

Abstract

Electron heating mode transitions induced by mixing the low- and high-frequency power in dual-frequency nitrogen discharges at 400 mTorr pressure are presented. As the low-frequency (13.56 MHz) power decreases and high-frequency (320 MHz) power increases for the fixed power of 200 W, there is a transition of electron energy distribution function (EEDF) from Druyvesteyn to bi-Maxwellian type characterized by a distinguished warm electron population. It is shown that this EEDF evolution is attributed to the transition from collisional to collisionless stochastic heating of the low-energy electrons.