Fundamental study on filter effect of confronting divergent magnetic fields applied to low-pressure inductively coupled plasmas

摘要

The electron motion under confronting divergent magnetic fields (CDMFs) applied to inductively coupled plasmas was simulated using a Monte Carlo method. The CDMFs induced by two coaxial dc coils confined electrons in one side of the separatrix of the CDMFs. However, electrons diffused across the separatrix mainly in two ways. One was the displacement of their gyrocenters due to scattering near the outer part of the separatrix. This process tended to occur for high-energy electrons with correspondingly large gyroradii. The other was passage through the weak magnetic field around the center. This process was allowed for low-energy electrons. The position-dependent selectivity about the electron energy was pointed out as a seed property for applications of the separatrix as a magnetic filter or shutter. The mechanism by which the functions of the separatrix emerge was explained from a viewpoint of electron motion under the CDMFs. (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics