Nonlinear radio-frequency potential in an inductive plasma

By reducing the driving frequency of an inductive discharge, a nonlinear regime in the skin layer was reached where the nonlinear radio-frequency (rf) Lorentz force acting on electrons prevailed over the electric field force. Under these conditions a large second harmonic potential was found in the skin layer. A corresponding electric field at the second harmonic was found to be much larger than the discharge maintenance electric field at the fundamental frequency. This nonlinear electric field was successfully modelled as an rf Hall effect induced by the cross product of the rf magnetic field and the rf drift velocity.