Surface-wave-sustained_mode
A surface-wave-sustained discharge is a plasma that is excited by propagation of electromagnetic surface waves.[1][2] Surface wave plasma sources can be divided into two groups depending upon whether the plasma generates part of its own waveguide by ionisation or not. The former is called a self-guided plasma. The surface wave mode allows the generation of uniform high-frequency-excited plasmas in volumes whose lateral dimensions extend over several wavelengths of the electromagnetic wave, e.g. for microwaves of 2.45 GHz in vacuum the wavelength amounts to 12.2 cm.