Correlation analysis of waves above a capacitive plasma applicator.

Capacitively coupled plasma glow discharges have been extensively used for materials processing in numerous industrial applications. Considerable research has been performed on plasma sheaths and standing waves over a capacitive applicator, which typically holds the processed substrate (e.g., a semiconductor wafer). In this work, we demonstrate for the first time the existence of normal modes in electric potential analogous to the vibrational modes in circular membranes and plates. These modes are exhibited through cross spectral analysis of the plasma potential measured with an emissive probe at 208 spatial positions and sampled at 1 GHz. These modes exist at several frequencies and are described by a series of Bessel functions. The data further suggests a nonlinear interaction between modes of different frequencies.