Microwave sheath-Voltage combination Plasma (MVP) is a high density plasma source and can be used as a suitable plasma processing device (e.g., ionized physical vapor deposition). In the present report, the temporal behavior of an argon MVP sustained
along a direct-current biased Ti rod is investigated. Two plasma modes are observed, one is an oxidized state (OS) at the early time of the microwave plasma and the other is ionized sputter state (ISS) at the later times. Transition of the plasma from OS to ISS, results a prominent change in the visible color of the plasma, resulting from a significant increase in the plasma density, as measured by a Langmuir probe. In the OS, plasma is dominated by Ar ions and the density is order 10^11 cm^-3. In the ISS, metal ions from the Ti rod contribute significantly to the ion composition and higher density plasma (10^12 cm^-3) is produced. Nearly uniform high density plasma along the length of the Ti rod is produced at very low input microwave powers (around 30 W). Optical emission spectroscopy measurements confirm the presence of sputtered Ti ions and Ti neutrals in the ISS.
Solitary electrons holes (SEHs) are localized electrostatic positive potential structures in collisionless plasmas. These are vortex-like structures in the electron phase space. Its existence is cause of distortion of the electron distribution in the
resonant region. These are explained theoretically first time by Schamel et.al [Phys. Scr. 20, 336 (1979) and Phys. Plasmas 19, 020501 (2012)]. Propagating solitary electron holes can also be formed in a laboratory plasma when a fast rising high positive voltage pulse is applied to a metallic electrode [Kar et. al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 102113 (2010)] immersed in a low pressure plasma. The temporal evolution of these structures can be studied by measuring the transient electron distribution function (EDF). In the present work, transient EDF is measured after formation of a solitary electron hole in nearly uniform, unmagnetized, and collisionless plasma for applied pulse width and, where and are applied pulse width and inverse of ion plasma frequency respectively. For both type of pulse widths, double hump like profile of transient EDF is observed, indicating that solitary electron hole exists in the system for time periods longer than the applied pulse duration. The beam (or free) electrons along with trapped (or bulk) electrons gives the solution of SEHs in the plasma. Without free or beam electrons, no SEHs exist. Transient EDF measurements reveal the existence and evolution of SEHs in the plasma. Measurements show that these structures live in system for longer time in the low pressure range. In high pressure cases, only single hump like transient EDF is observed i.e. only trapped or bulk electrons. In this situation, SEH does not exist in the plasma during evolution of plasma after the end of applied pulse.
In recent decades, different types of plasma sources have been used for various types of plasma processing, such as, etching and thin film deposition. The critical parameter for effective plasma processing is high plasma density. One type of high den
sity plasma source is Microwave sheath-Voltage combination Plasma (MVP). In the present investigation, a better design of MVP source is reported, in which over-dense plasma is generated for low input microwave powers. The results indicate that the length of plasma column increases significantly with increase in input microwave power.
