Electron heating mode transitions in dual frequency capacitive discharges

We consider electron heating in the sheath regions of capacitive discharges excited by a combination of two frequencies, one much higher than the other. There is a common supposition that in such discharges the higher frequency is the dominant source of electron heating. In this letter, we discuss closed analytic expressions quantifying the Ohmic and collisionless electron heating in a dual frequency discharge. In both cases, we show that the lower frequency parameters strongly influence the heating effect. Moreover, this influence is parametrically different, so that the dominant heating mechanism may be changed by varying the low frequency current density. ∗Electronic address: [email protected]