The influence of wave processes on plasma processing of metal platings

Summary form only given. To characterize the influence of surface waves (SWs) on plasma processing, their dispersion properties and electromagnetic field distributions have been studied in application to gas discharge plasma immersed in an external magnetic field H/sub o/ directed parallel to the plasma-metal interface. The properties of the SW, strictly depend on the external magnetic field direction, the character of plasma inhomogeneity, and the value of the plasma gas-kinetic pressure. In a cold plasma, the SWs propagating across H/sub o/ are nonreciprocal and exist in the frequency ranges ww/sub 1/, where w/sub i,/ /sub e/ are the ion electron cyclotron frequencies, and w/sub 2,1/ are the lower and the upper hybrid frequencies, respectively. In this case the studied SWs are pure surface modes. If the eigenmode propagating parallel to H/sub o/ is excited, it becomes a generalized surface mode.