N St J Braithwaite and R N Franklin 2009 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 18 014008 doi:10.1088/0963-0252/18/1/014008
N St J Braithwaite and R N Franklin
Show affiliationsLangmuir probes are relatively simple to construct and to use for establishing local and time-resolved measurements of charged particles in ionized gases. The analysis requires the adoption of assumptions and implies constraints on operation that can often be met in laboratory plasmas that have been primarily devised for the testing of probe theories. Probe modelling can also be tested against simulations. More generally, the analysis of data from probes operated in less ideal plasmas, such as those used in materials processing, is more challenging. In these circumstances alternative strategies are required that are tolerant of the processing environment. Techniques for immediate, local measurements include the use of structures that involve standing waves and travelling waves, typically at microwave frequencies. Non-invasive electrical probing can also conveniently be done from isolated planar sections of the bounding surfaces.
Issue 1 (February 2009)
Received 1 September 2008, in final form 3 October 2008
Published 14 November 2008
N St J Braithwaite and R N Franklin 2009 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 18 014008
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