Effect of Collisionless Heating on Electron Energy Distribution in an Inductively Coupled Plasma

Significant frequency dependence of the electron energy distribution has been found in a low-pressure inductive discharge experiment. The observed frequency dependence reveals the presence of collisionless electron heating and appears as a result of finite electron-transit time through the skin layer. The energy distributions calculated from a kinetic equation accounting for nonlocality of electron kinetics and electrodynamics are in good agreement with the experiment.