Plasma sheath control for rf plasma reactors

A plasma sheath control system comprising:

• a high voltage DC power supply that produces a DC voltage greater than 200 V;
• a resonant circuit driver comprising a plurality of high voltage switches that alternately switch on and off to produce a sinusoidal waveform with a frequency greater than 20 kHz and a peak voltage greater than 1 kV;
• a plasma chamber electrically coupled with the resonant circuit driver, the plasma chamber having a plurality of ions that are accelerated into a surface disposed within the plasma chamber with energies greater than about 1 kV, and the plasma chamber produces a plasma sheath within the plasma chamber from the sinusoidal waveform;
• a blocking diode electrically connected between the resonant circuit driver and the plasma chamber that rectifies the sinusoidal waveform.

A plasma sheath control system comprising:

• an RF power supply that produces a sinusoidal waveform with a frequency greater than 20 kHz and a peak voltage greater than 1 kV;
• a plasma chamber electrically coupled with the RF power supply, the plasma chamber having a plurality of ions that are accelerated into a surface disposed within the plasma chamber with energies greater than about 1 kV, and the plasma chamber produces a plasma sheath within the plasma chamber from the sinusoidal waveform;
• a blocking diode electrically connected between the RF power supply and the plasma chamber, the blocking diode rectifies the sinusoidal waveform;
• and
• a resistive output stage comprising a resistor and an inductor arranged in series, the resistive output stage disposed between a point on the plasma sheath control system between the blocking diode and the plasma chamber and ground.