Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 November 2004
Collisionless electron heating in a low-pressure weakly magnetized inductively coupled plasma is considered by means of quasilinear theory. We use a one-dimensional slab model of an inductively coupled plasma with a penetrating radio frequency (RF) electric field given by an exponential function. Diffusion coefficients in velocity space are obtained regarding the induced RF electric field and induced polarization electric field (DC electric field). It is shown that the induced polarization electric field has a significant contribution to the collisionless electron heating. We consider the influence of the quasilinear collision integral on the evolution of the symmetric part of the electron energy distribution function.