Bistability and hysteresis in inductively coupled plasmas

The transition between the two stable operation regimes (E and H discharge modes) in inductively coupled argon plasmas has been studied experimentally and theoretically. Analogy with other physical phenomena exhibiting hyster esis has been drawn. Analysis of power balance, electromagnetic field, plas ma parameters, densities of the excited states, and optical emission spectr a shows that the hysteresis may be due to nonlinearities associated with st ep-wise ionization through excited states of the argon atoms.