Collisionless electron heating by capacitive rf sheaths.

High-frequency plasma discharges are often sustained by collisionless heating of electrons; the nature of these mechanisms is a central problem in the theory of such discharges. In capacitive discharges, collisionless heating occurs near boundaries, and is usually attributed to inelastic collisions of electrons with oscillating plasma sheaths, regarded as moving rigid barriers. We show that, when current conservation is required, such heating necessarily vanishes, and we conclude that this model of the heating process is not correct.