Attachment Instabilities of SF₆ Inductively Coupled Plasmas under Different Coupling Intensities

Characteristics of attachment instabilities in SF₆ inductively coupled plasmas are experimentally studied under different coupling intensities. Experimental results show that the instabilities only occur in H modes operating in positive feedback regions. Both the sudden mode transitions and the instabilities are influenced by the coupling intensities. With increasing absorbed power, weak and middle coupling discharges can sequently undergo sudden mode transitions and attachment instabilities. In strong coupling discharges, the sudden mode transitions disappear and only attachment instabilities exist. The strong and weak coupling discharges are the most stable and unstable, respectively.