| AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session PS2-TuM |
| Session: | Plasma Diagnostics, Sensors and Control |
| Presenter: | H. Kersten, University of Kiel, Germany |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Since the thermal conditions at substrate surfaces affect essentially the interaction of elementary processes during plasma treatment of solid surfaces (deposition, etching, modification), the experimental determination of the energy influx from plasma to substrate is of great importance.
The total energy influx can be measured by special calorimetric sensors (thermal probes). One method is based on the determination of the temporal slope of the substrate surface temperature in the course of the plasma process. The heating curve as well as the cooling curve (after switching-off) are fitted by suitable functions and the time derivatives at same environmental temperature are calculated. By knowing the calibrated heat capacity of the sensor the difference of the time derivatives yields the integral energy influx to the surface. Simultaneously, the electrical current to the substrate can be obtained and by variation of the sensors bias voltage the energetic contribution of charge carriers can be determined. By using thermal probes of different materials it is even possible to verify the effect of surface recombination, secondary electron emission and sputtering in respect to the energy balance of a substrate in plasma processing. By comparison of the experiments with model assumptions on the involved plasma-surface mechanisms the different energetic contributions to the total energy influx can be separated.
The method will be demonstrated for various process plasmas, e.g. magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), asymmetric rf-discharge, ion beam source, and ECR afterglow.