The Measurement and Analysis of Electric Fields in Glow Discharge Plasmas

Abstract

Interest in glow discharge plasmas has remained high for many decades because of their widespread application as a source of incoherent and coherent light, in plasma processing materials, in pulsed power devices, and in other technologies. Plasma etching of semiconductors and various plasma deposition process emerged as major applications during the 1980s. The technological significance of plasma processing is described in Plasma Processing of Materials. More fundamental work on glow discharges also advanced greatly during the 1980s. For example, substantial progress was made through the use of laser diagnostics to study glow discharges and as a result of the dramatically increased computing power that became available in the 1980s to model glow discharges. Many of the laser diagnostics are described in Radiative Processes in Discharge Plasmas. Kinetic theory models, in particular, became far more sophisticated and realistic during the 1980s. This article is a review of recent work that used optical diagnostics to study electric fields in glow discharge plasmas. Alternative methods for measuring electric electric fields in plasmas include electron beam deflection and electrostatic probes. Optical techniques have important advantages over these methods: They can be used at higher pressures and discharge current densities than electron beam deflection; andmore » they are noninvasive, unlike electrostatic probes. In addition, optical techniques are usually easier to apply in a highly pure system than either of the alternative methods. 46 refs., 23 figs., 1 tab.« less