On the density jumps in helicon plasma sources
Shamrai K.P.
Scientific Center “Nuclear Research Institute”, Kiev, Ukraine
The effect of matching network on the dynamics is examined in a helicon plasma source. The coefficient of RF power absorption is shown to depend non-monotonically on density at fixed matching conditions, which results in a possibility for the existence of critical equilibrium points and density jumps. At certain matching conditions, one can avoid density jumps in a wide range of density variation.