Observation of Stationary Plasma Striation and Collimated Plasma Transport in a 100-kHz Inductively Coupled Plasma Discharge

Inductively coupled plasma source connected to a diffusion vacuum chamber is operated with an inverter-type radio frequency (RF) power supply in 10-Pa argon. Plasma structure in the glass source tube is preliminarily studied by acquisition of digital images. A RF antenna is powered with a frequency of ~100 kHz, which is adjusted in order to optimize impedance matching condition. Near the RF antenna, the plasma production over the glass source tube diameter is observed, whereas the smaller diameter plasma transport and the stationary plasma striation structure are seen between the RF antenna and diffusion chamber.