Ion flux, ion energy distribution and neutral density in an inductively coupled argon discharge

The dependence of ion flux, ion energy distribution, and neutral density of a planar radio frequency (RF) driven inductively coupled plasma source on pressure and power is analyzed using an energy selective mass spectrometer and a retarding field analyzer. The ion flux is about 7 mA/cm^2 at 5 Pa and 300 W and increases as RF power and argon pressure increase. The ion energy distribution consists of a single peak with a full width at half maximum of 3 eV for a discharge power in the range from 50 to 300 W and for a pressure in the range from 0.5 to 5 Pa. This indicates that inductive coupling mainly drives the discharge while capacitive coupling between coil and plasma is weak. A significant decrease in Ar neutral density is observed when the plasma is ignited. The Ar depletion increases with increasing RF power and increasing Ar base pressure and reaches 30 % at 5 Pa and 300 W. The decrease in neutral density cannot be explained by the ionization of Ar atoms only but is also attributed to heating of Ar atoms by collisions with energetic particles. A simple model is proposed to understand and to estimate the effect of these collisions on the neutral temperature.