Determining electron temperature and electron density in moderate pressure H2/CH4 microwave plasma

Abstract

The electron temperature and electron density are measured in a microwave (MW) plasma-assisted chemical vapour diamond deposition reactor for different experimental conditions by varying the substrate temperature, methane content and MW power density. Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and MW interferometry are used to probe the discharge generated in a stainless steel resonant cavity excited at a frequency of 2.45 GHz. Changing the substrate temperature from 630 to 900 °C does not show any significant influence on the electron temperature or on the electron density. Increasing the methane content from 0 to 10% does not lead to any modification of the electron temperature or density. However between 10% and 20% CH, a decrease of the electron density is observed which may be attributed to soot particle formation.The electron density increases in the range of (1.2–10) × 1011 cm−3 from moderate power density conditions (50 hPa/1000 W) to high power density conditions (250 hPa/3500 W). OES measurements show that the electron temperature exhibits a flat axial profile in the plasma bulk and ranges from 14 000 K at (25 hPa/600 W) to 10 500 K at (400 hPa/3000 W).