Simulation of kinetic effects in inductive discharges

We show that, under certain conditions of practical interest, radio frequency inductive discharges can exhibit kinetic effects arising from the random thermal motion of electrons. The electrical response of the plasma is altered in this kinetic regime. More power is dissipated than is expected from cold plasma theory and the spatial distributions of the induced currents and fields change. Moment- or fluid-based simulations do not normally include these kinetic effects, but we show that the introduction of an appropriate viscosity into the moment equations can make them accurate in the kinetic regime.