Helicon Discharge Using a Nagoya Type III Antenna

A helicon mode discharge is realized in a newly erected set-up and two jumps are observed in the variation of plasma density with the controlled magnetic field, which is a typical characteristic of helicon mode discharge. A reasonable explanation is proposed for the appearance of the density jumps. The helicon wavelength is evaluated to be about 20 cm and it is nearly constant in the helicon mode discharge. The density obtained is nearly up to 3.5 x 10¹⁸m^-3 with only 0.5Pa argon pressure and 300W radio frequency power supply, and it is more than one magnitude higher than that in other discharges at comparable pressures and input powers. The electron temperature is found to be increased as the pressure is decreased.