A novel capacitively coupled plasma driven by hollow cathode radio-frequency discharges

New plasma sources with high density and low energy are required to process material surfaces in nanometers. In this study, an electrode integrated with a hollow cathode (HC) and capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) was developed. With the tool, a novel capacitively coupled plasma driven by the hollow cathode radio-frequency discharges (HC-CCP) was observed experimentally, and its properties in the center of the chamber were investigated by a Langmuir probe. The results demonstrated that the HC-CCP presents wide ranges of electron density (n ( e )), between 10(9) and 10(10) cm(-3), and electron energy (T ( e )), 3.5-6.7 eV. And their distributions can be controlled by the modulation of radio-frequency source power and frequency, work pressure, and bias voltage. Therefore, this plasma source can be applied to a new generation of material processing.