Mechanisms of Heat Transfer between non Equilibrium Plasma and a Target Covered by a Semiconductor

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Elementary phenomena of heat and mass transfer from a non equilibrium low pressure plasma to an oxide target such as ‐n or ‐p type semiconductors have been measured by using an oxygen plasma. The aim of this work is to establish a correlation between the electronic properties of the semiconductors (electronic gap) and their reactivity (activation energy of the recombination reaction). The energetic transfer of a material is defined by the recombination and accommodation coefficients, respectively γ and β. The γ coefficient is measured in a pulsed oxygen plasma reactor in non equilibrium conditions, using an actinometric method. The test materials are ‐p type semiconductors (CoO, MnO, PbO and Sb2O3) and ‐n type semiconductors (SnOx). An experimental study on more complex ceramic material (SiC) is undertaken on a large temperature range (300 K‐1123 K) in order to point out a change in the recombination mechanism when the surface temperature raises. The chemical structure of the material is followed by XPS analyses and shows an oxidation of SiC to SiO2 structure.