A stacked sensor concept for industry compatible plasma diagnostics

This paper presents a stacked sensor concept, which is producible entirely on standard printed circuit boards and applicable for the control of industrial plasma processes. Starting with the so-called multipole resonance probe (MRP) the prospects and the development towards the stacked MRP (sMRP) are discussed. The conversion of the MRP into a discretized spherical setup, using printed half discs of varying radii, is investigated. 3D electromagnetic field simulations yield an optimized assembly of 25 PCBs for a replication of the probe head. Measurements of a first prototype in a double inductive coupled plasma with an excited argon-hydrogen plasma have proven the expected resonance behaviour. In comparison to the MRP and the simulations, the applicability of the stacked sensor concept is demonstrated.