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    Plasma Science Monday Sessions
       Session PS1+MM-MoM

Paper PS1+MM-MoM6
Experimental and Numerical Model Investigations of Miniature Microwave Plasma Sources

Monday, October 29, 2001, 11:20 am, Room 103

Session: Science & Technology of Microplasmas and MEMS Processing
Presenter: J.A. Asmussen, Michigan State University
Authors: D. Story, Michigan State University
T.A. Grotjohn, Michigan State University
J.A. Asmussen, Michigan State University
Correspondent: Click to Email
In the past, the challenge in microwave plasma research was to develop techniques that provide high ion and free radical densities uniformly, over large and ever increasing process areas. Since scale-up was usually an important issue when considering industrial applications, the study of very small microwave plasmas, on the order of a few millimeters, was rarely done. Recently, interest in the development of systems on a chip, MEMS and their related micro system applications, has suggested the possibility of numerous applications for mini and micro plasma sources. Accordingly, this investigation is devoted to the development and the understanding of the behavior of very small microwave plasma sources. We have constructed two microwave plasma systems that create and allow for the experimental investigation of millimeter size plasmas. Plasma are generated across a wide range of input parameters, including pressure variation from below 1 Torr to 1 atmosphere, input power at 2.45 GHz from one watt to 100 watts, and a variety of gas mixtures including argon, nitrogen and hydrogen. Microwave plasma of various sizes (volumes) and aspect ratios are studied. Plasma density, size, shape, ignition, and emission spectra are monitored during each experiment to characterize the miniature plasma over the operating range. Companion global model and two dimensional numerical models will be developed and used to further understand the operation of miniature microwave plasma sources. The experimental and modeling results will identify the experimental operating regime necessary to excite and maintain stable, high density, miniature microwave plasma sources and will also identify the important figures of performance, such as electron temperature versus pressure/power and absorbed power densities versus pressure and plasma size.