Paper PS-TuP6
Plasma Processing with CH₃OH

Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 6:30 pm, Room Hall D

Traditional plasma processes including deposition, etching, and surface modification have been utilized in a variety of commercial applications. These applications can require highly toxic and expensive monomers; to avoid these issues, we have been exploring the use of CH₃OH for a variety of both nontraditional and traditional applications. First, the non-traditional application for plasmas of contaminated water remediation, has been explored using CH₃OH as a model compound for organic contaminants. It was chosen as a standard to compare larger organic molecules to in the future for detection and abatement with optical emission spectroscopy (OES). These studies were performed in a glass tubular reactor equipped with OES detection. Results for both CH₃OH and methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) contaminated water demonstrated that not only is detection of organic molecule breakdown possible, but abatement can also be achieved. Our data demonstrate this for CH3OH and MTBE at detectable limits of 0.01 ppm. Second, data for OH radicals from our imaging of radicals interacting with surfaces (IRIS) technique will be presented for both CH₃OH and H₂O plasmas. These two simple systems allow us to understand the behavior of OH radicals from different precursors. Results from these studies will be compared to previous studies, especially with respect to how plasma parameters affect the underlying chemistry occurring in the plasma. Finally, preliminary results will be presented from studies designed to explore the use of CH₃OH plasmas as an etchant. These studies were completed in a capacitively-coupled parallel plate reactor (PPR) and include OES, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and profilometry measurements. Comparison to traditional halogenated systems will also be presented.