Publication

The Role of Metastable Atoms in Argon-Diluted Silane Radiofrequency Plasmas

Abstract

The evolution of the argon metastable states density has been studied by absorption spectroscopy in power-modulated plasmas of argon and a mixture of 4% silane in argon. A small concentration of silane suppresses the argon metastable states density by molecular quenching. This molecular quenching adds to the electronic collisional dissociation to increase the silane dissociation rate as compared with pure silane plasmas. Using time-resolved emission spectroscopy, the role of metastable states in excitation to the argon 2P2 state has been determined in comparison with production from the ground state. In silane plasmas, emission from SiH* is due essentially to electron impact dissociation of silane, whereas in 4% silane-in-argon plasmas, emission from SiH* seems to be due to electron impact excitation of the SiH ground state, These studies demonstrate that argon is not simply a buffer gas but has an influence on the dissociation rate in plasma-assisted deposition of amorphous silicon using argon-diluted silane plasmas.

About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Graph Chatbot

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.