Four new exchange potentials (the semiclassical exchange approximation, the asymptotically adjusted free-electron–gas exchange approximation, the second-order free-electron–gas exchange approximation, and the high-energy exchange approximation) are derived. Calculations are performed for elastic electron scattering from helium and argon. The results are compared to one another and to calculations using Hara’s free-electron–gas approximation and the exact nonlocal exchange potential. Three of the approximations to exchange are in good agreement with the exact exchange —except at very low energy— but are much easier to use. Thus they should be very useful in electron–atom and electron–molecule scattering calculations.

A "reference cell" for generating radio-frequency (rf) glow discharges in gases at a frequency of 13.56 MHz is described. The reference cell provides an experimental platform for comparing plasma measurements carried out in a common reactor geometry by different experimental groups, thereby enhancing the transfer of knowledge and insight gained in rf discharge studies. The results of performing ostensibly identical measurements on six of these cells in five different laboratories are analyzed and discussed. Measurements were made of plasma voltage and current characteristics for discharges in pure argon at specified values of applied voltages, gas pressures, and gas flow rates. Data are presented on relevant electrical quantities derived from Fourier analysis of the voltage and current wave forms. Amplitudes, phase shifts, self-bias voltages, and power dissipation were measured. Each of the cells was characterized in terms of its measured internal reactive components. Comparing results from different cells provides an indication of the degree of precision needed to define the electrical configuration and operating parameters in order to achieve identical performance at various laboratories. The results show, for example, that the external circuit, including the reactive components of the rf power source, can significantly influence the discharge. Results obtained in reference cells with identical rf power sources demonstrate that considerable progress has been made in developing a phenomenological understanding of the conditions needed to obtain reproducible discharge conditions in independent reference cells.

The behavior of rf plasma sheaths has been the subject of much scientific study and also is technologically important for plasma etching and deposition in the manufacture of integrated circuits. This paper presents a semianalytic model of rf sheaths and describes an experiment that tested the model. An approximation to the first integral of the Poisson equation allows solving for the response of plasma sheaths to an imposed rf bias voltage. This approximation enables the plasma sheaths to be included within an electrical model of the plasma and external rf circuit components, and affords a prediction of the ion energy distributions impacting the electrodes, which are in contact with the plasma. The model is a significant advance beyond previous sheath models because it has no restriction on the ratio of the rf period to the ion transit time across the sheath. The model is applicable to those high-density, low-pressure plasmas in which the Debye length is a small fraction of the ion mean-free path, which itself is a small fraction of the plasma dimension. The experimental test of the model was conducted by comparing the predicted and measured rf potential, current, and power at the sheath adjacent to a capacitively coupled, rf-biased electrode in a plasma reactor with argon discharges sustained by an inductively coupled plasma source. The comparisons included both linear and nonlinear components of the rf electrical parameters. Results of the experiment were in substantial agreement with model predictions.

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