Theoretical and experimental investigations of the electromagnetic field within a planar coil, inductively coupled RF plasma source

This paper describes theoretical and experimental investigations of the electromagnetic field within a planar coil, inductively coupled RF plasma source. Theoretical expressions are derived for the spatial distributions of the RF magnetic field within the reactor chamber, both for the situation in which no plasma is generated and for the situation in which an H-mode discharge exists. Detailed measurements of the RF magnetic field and the electron number density and temperature for one particular set of working conditions are reported. These are analysed, with the aid of the theory, to investigate how well the properties of the plasma can be inferred from the magnetic field data, and vice versa. It is concluded that, to within a factor of about two, useful information concerning these quantities can be deduced.