Abstract
Numerical modeling is used to investigate the perturbation of a single Langmuir probe (0.2 mm diameter shielded with 6 mm insulator) inserted along the center axis of a cylindrical inductively coupled plasma chamber filled with Ar at 10 mTorr and driven by 13 MHz. The probe was driven by a sine wave. When the probe tip is close to a substrate by 24.5 mm, the probe characteristics was unperturbed. At 10 mm above the substrate, the time averaged electric potential distribution around the tip was severly distorted making a normal probe analysis impossible.