Analytical solution for capacitive RF sheath

A self-consistent solution for the dynamics of a high voltage, capacitive radio frequency (RF) sheath driven by a sinusoidal current source is obtained under the assumptions of time-independent, collisionless ion motion and inertialess electrons. Expressions are obtained for the time-average ion and electron densities, electric field and potential within the sheath. The nonlinear oscillation motion of the electron sheath boundary and the nonlinear oscillating sheath voltage are also obtained. The effective sheath capacitance and conductance are also determined. It was found that: (1) the ion-sheath thickness S/sub m/ is square root 50/27 larger than a Child's law sheath for the DC voltage and ion current density; (2) the sheath capacitance per unit area for the fundamental voltage harmonic is 2.452 epsilon /sub 0//S/sub m/, where epsilon /sub 0/ is the free space permittivity; (3) the ratio of the DC to peak value of the oscillating voltage is 54/125; (4) the second and third voltage harmonics are, respectively, 12.3 and 4.2% of the fundamental; and (5) the conductance per unit area for stochastic heating by the oscillating sheath is 2.98 ( lambda /sub D//S/sub m/)/sup 2/3/ (e/sup 2/n/sub 0//mu/sub e/), where n/sub 0/ is the ion density, lambda /sub D/ is the Debye length at the plasma-sheath edge, and u/sub e/ is the mean electron speed.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>