The ion-acoustic turbulence in the skin layer of the inductively coupled plasma

TL;DR

This paper develops a theory for nonmodal ion-acoustic instability in the skin layer of ICP, revealing how turbulence and electron scattering contribute to RF energy absorption.

Contribution

It introduces a new theoretical model describing the time-dependent ion-acoustic instability driven by ponderomotive forces in ICP skin layers.

Findings

Ion-acoustic turbulence is driven by electron current in the skin layer.

Turbulence causes scattering of electrons, affecting energy absorption.

The instability has a nonmodal, time-dependent growth rate.

Abstract

The theory of the nonmodal ion-acoustic instability in the skin layer of the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) is developed. This instability has time dependent growth rate and is driven by the current formed in the skin layer by the accelerated motion of electrons relative to ions under the action of the ponderomotive force. It is found that the development of the ion acoustic turbulence (IAT) in the skin layer and the scattering of electrons by IAT are basic nonlinear channels of the nonlinear absorption of the RF energy in the skin layer.