Modeling of and experiments on dust particle levitation in the sheath of a radio frequency plasma reactor

The equilibrium and trapping of dust particles in a plasma sheath are investigated, both experimentally and theoretically. A self-consistent sheath model including input power as one of the model parameters is proposed, to predict the equilibrium position of particle trap. The electron temperature and density are estimated from the observed current and power (I-P) characteristics using the sheath model developed. Direct comparisons are made between the measured equilibrium position and the predicted equilibrium position. The equilibrium position moves closer to the electrode with increasing rf power and particle size. The position is apparently related to the sheath thickness, which decreases with increasing rf power. The model can correctly predict the experimentally observed trend in the equilibrium position of particle trap. It is found that the particle charge becomes positive when the particle gets closer to the electrode, due to the dominant influence of ion currents to the particle surface.