Influence of N2 admixture on mode transition of discharge in N2–Ar helicon plasma

Effects of N2 admixture on multiple wave modes and transitions were investigated in N2–Ar helicon plasma under fixed input power and magnetic field. The structures of helicon waves were measured by a B-dot probe to verify the different eigenmodes. The experimental results show that the plasma morphology, emission spectrum, and spatial profile change significantly during mode transitions with the N2–Ar ratio. The calculated results from the pressure balance model indicate that the densities of species N2, N+, Ar, and Ar+ will change largely during mode transition around some specific N2 percentages, which will help to improve the application of N2–Ar helicon plasma in material processing greatly.