AVS 51st International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Tuesday Sessions
       Session PS-TuP

Paper PS-TuP10
Spatio-temporal Characterization of Pulsed, Electron Beam Generated Plasmas for Materials Processing

Tuesday, November 16, 2004, 4:00 pm, Room Exhibit Hall B

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: S.G. Walton, Naval Research Laboratory
Authors: S.G. Walton, Naval Research Laboratory
D. Leonhardt, Naval Research Laboratory
C. Muratore, ASEE Postdoctoral Fellow
R.F. Fernsler, Naval Research Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
In plasma-based materials modification, regulating the flux of ion, neutral, and radical species at the substrate surface is a critical component of process control. The plasma density determines the flux while the electron temperature influences the energy of these species and so both can be used to regulate reactive species at the substrate. To this end, both modulated plasma production and remote plasma sources are typically employed to control the relative ion and radical fluxes and energy through temporal or spatial variations in the bulk plasma. In this paper, spatio-temporal characterizations of pulsed, electron beam-generated plasmas produced in molecular gases will be presented. Mass and time-resolved measurements of ion fluxes and energy distributions are presented and correlated to measurements of the plasma density, potential, and electron temperature. Previous work has shown that energetic electron beams are efficient at producing high-density plasmas (n@sube@ > 10@super11@ cm@super-3@) with low electron temperatures (T@sube@ < 0.5 eV) over the volume of the beam. The resulting species fluxes and ion energy distributions at remotely located electrodes have unique characteristics and can be useful in range of processing applications. Namely, low ion energies (< 4 eV), regimes of large atomic-to-molecular ion ratio (>1), and ion-to-radical fluxes that are adjustable with electrode position. Modulating the electron beam can further enhance these attributes. Measurements are presented for a range of operating conditions and electron beam-to-electrode distances for plasmas produced in nitrogen, oxygen, TEOS and mixtures thereof. The results compliment and are used to understand various processing applications under development in our laboratory. This work supported by the Office of Naval Research.