1. Presentation

We will focus on low-temperature, low-pressure discharges. We will concentrate on the specific characteristics of discharges excited by high-frequency electric fields, which are a very special case of these plasmas. These are commonly referred to as radio frequency discharges, and the frequency used is often 13.56 MHz. The most commonly used plasma gas is argon due to its chemical neutrality (rare gas), relatively high mass (M = 40), and low cost compared to other neutral gases.

These low-temperature, low-pressure discharges, often referred to as cold plasmas, are characterized by a degree of ionization $\alpha =\frac{n_{\text{e}}}{n_{\text{e}}+n_0}$...