Optical Emission of Dusty RF Discharges: Experiment and Simulation

Abstract

The spectral emission of argon atoms in a dusty radio frequence (RF) discharge has been investigated experimentally and in simulations. It was observed that the spatially and temporally resolved emission of the argon atoms in the dusty discharge was increased compared to the dust‐free case during sheath expansion. The corresponding simulations have revealed that the dust trapped in the sheath of the discharge leads to a small, but important, increase of the amount of high‐energy electrons that in turn leads to an increased argon emission.