AVS 46th International Symposium
    Thin Films Division Monday Sessions
       Session TF-MoM

Paper TF-MoM5
Quantitative Characterization of a Particle Beam Source for Atomic Hydrogen and Hydrocarbon Radicals for Thin Film Growth Studies

Monday, October 25, 1999, 9:40 am, Room 615

Session: Fundamentals of PECVD
Presenter: Th. Schwarz-Selinger, Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Germany
Authors: Th. Schwarz-Selinger, Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Germany
A. von Keudell, Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Germany
W. Jacob, Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
Hydrocarbon radicals are the dominant neutral growth precursors for the deposition of amorphous hydrogenated carbon films (a-C:H). For the investigation of the growth mechanisms a particle beam source was developed, which is able to produce thermal beams of neutral hydrocarbon radicals. The radicals are produced in a resistively heated tungsten capillary by thermal dissociation at the hot walls of the capillary. The maximum temperature of the capillary, achievable is around 2600 K, which is sufficient to also produce atomic hydrogen from H@sub 2@ with a high yield. A rotatable (@+-@ 20°) quadrupole mass spectrometer in line of sight to the capillary exit was employed to study the emanating particle beam. This setup allows to identify the emitted species and their angular distribution and permits to quantify the emitted fluxes. For hydrogen the degree of dissociation and the total flux of atomic hydrogen as a function of temperature and gas flow is presented. With the same source methyl radicals are produced. Results are presented for the total amount of methyl radicals using different hydrocarbon source gases. First results of surface reactions of these radicals, investigated by monitoring the interaction of the particle beam with a-C:H film surfaces in real time by in-situ ellipsometry and in-situ infrared spectroscopy, complete this presentation.