Inductively Coupled Plasma Source Research Articles

Development and Evaluation of Ferrite Core Inductively Coupled Plasma Radio Frequency Ion Source for High-Current Ion Implanters in Semiconductor Applications.

This study presents the development of a ferrite core inductively coupled plasma (ICP) radio frequency (RF) ion source designed to improve the lifetime of ion sources in commercial ion implanters. Unlike existing DC methods, this novel approach aims to enhance the performance and lifetime of the ion source. We constructed a high-vacuum evaluation chamber to thoroughly examine RF ion source characteristics using a Langmuir probe. Comparative experiments assessed the extraction current of two upgraded ferrite core RF ion sources in a commercial ion implanter setting. Additionally, we tested the plasma lifetime of the ICP source and took temperature measurements of various components to verify the operational stability and efficiency of the innovative design. This study confirmed that the ICP RF ion source operated effectively under a high vacuum of 10-5 torr and in a high-voltage environment of 30 kV. We observed that the extraction current increased linearly with RF power. We also confirmed that BF3 gas, which presents challenging conditions, was stably ionized in the ICP RF ion sources.

Remote inductively coupled plasmas in Ar/N2 mixtures and implications for plasma enhanced ALD

Plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) is a cyclic atomic layer deposition (ALD) process that incorporates plasma-generated species into one of the cycle substeps. The addition of plasma is advantageous as it generally provides unique reactants and a substantially reduced growth temperature compared to thermal approaches. However, the inclusion of plasma, coupled with the increasing variety of plasma sources used in PEALD, can make these systems challenging to understand and control. This work focuses on the use of plasma diagnostics to examine the plasma characteristics of a remote inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source, a type of plasma source that is commonly used for PEALD. Ultraviolet to near-infrared spectroscopy and spatially resolved Langmuir probe measurements are employed to characterize a remote ICP system using nitrogen-based gas chemistries typical for III-nitride growth processes. Spectroscopy is used to characterize the relative concentrations of important reactive and energetic neutral species generated in the remote ICP as a function of gas flow rate, Ar/N2 flow fraction, and gas pressure. In addition, the plasma potential and plasma density for the same process parameters are examined using an RF compensated Langmuir probe downstream from the ICP source. The results are also discussed in terms of their impact on materials growth.

Kinetic simulations of low-pressure inductively coupled plasma: an implicit electromagnetic PIC/MCC model with the ADI-FDTD method

Low-pressure inductively coupled plasma (ICP) is promising for space electric propulsion. For the first time, an implicit electromagnetic particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collision model based on the alternating-direction-implicit finite-difference time-domain (ADI-FDTD) method is developed to investigate low-pressure xenon plasma characteristics of a miniature ICP source. The induced simulated electric field is well consistent with that calculated by the finite element method, indicating that this method can provide an accurate estimation of the electromagnetic field. The simulation time step used in the ADI-FDTD method is no longer restricted by the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy constraints. Compared with the FDTD method, the ADI-FDTD method increases the size of the time step and significantly improves computational efficiency. The method is validated by comparing the simulated and measured electron density and plasma potential profile and reasonable agreement is reached. Therefore, the model is used to investigate the temporal and spatial distribution of plasma properties and the influence of the current amplitude of radio frequency (RF) coil, applied frequency of RF coil and neutral gas pressure on the plasma dynamics in the ionization chamber of a miniature gridded RF ion thruster. To explain the influence of the operating parameters, a concept called ‘the energy relaxation characteristics of electrons in response to the change of electric field’ is proposed and verified. The simulations also find that the oscillation frequency of plasma properties is twice the applied frequency of RF coil. The oscillation characteristics reveal the dynamic energy balance in the ICP. The experiment on the gridded RF ion thruster BHRIT-4 confirms the oscillation by measuring the plasma sheath potential.

Effect of various pulse plasma techniques on TiO2 etching for metalens formation

TiO2 meta materials composed of high aspect ratio pillars with different widths can be used for a planar metalens with a thickness that are less than a sheet of paper and with no chromatic aberrations. In this study, TiO2 pillars with different sizes masked by ACL were etched with an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etcher and a gas mixture of C4F8/SF6/Ar using various plasma techniques such as continuous wave (CW), bias pulsing, synchronous pulsing, and asynchronous pulsing and their TiO2 etch characteristics and plasma characteristics were compared. The results showed that the etch rates were decreased in the sequence of CW, bias pulse, synchronous pulse, and asynchronous pulse conditions. However, the etch selectivities over ACL and SiO2 and the aspect ratio dependent etching (ARDE) effect were improved in that sequence. The decrease in etch rates in that sequence was related to no power input during the processing such as no ICP source power and/or no bias power at those pulse conditions. And, the increase of etch selectivities was related to the increased CFx/F and CFx(x = 2,3)/CF in the plasmas due to less dissociation and/or more recombination of fluorocarbon gas during the pulse conditions. The improvement of the aspect ratio dependent etching (ARDE) effect was caused by the decreased compositional differences between wide TiO2 pattern area and narrow TiO2 pattern area. Especially, the ARDE effect was the lowest for the asynchronous pulse condition due to the cyclic etch characteristics composed of the reactant chemisorption step by supplying ICP power only and the etch step by supplying bias power only similar to atomic layer etching (ALE).

Spatial distribution and transport mechanism of electrons in large and powerful inductively coupled plasma sources with Faraday shield

A large and powerful radio frequency (RF) inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source with a Faraday shield (FS) has been investigated by a 3D fluid model, consisting of a plasma module and an electromagnetic field module. Effects of the structure of the FS, the RF current, and the gas pressure on the spatial distributions of plasma parameters including the electron density, electron temperature, and electron potential barrier are investigated systematically. The results show that the FS has a great influence on the spatial distribution and transport mechanism of electrons. The electron density has a maximum value at the center of the ICP source and declines sharply near the FS. Furthermore, it decreases obviously with the decreasing slit width, due to the electron transport mechanism, which is directly related to the electron potential barrier and electron temperature. In addition, the electron density increases with the RF current and gas pressure; it is noteworthy that the stronger induced electric field heating exists at the slit gap under high RF current that makes the electron temperature increase. The data obtained in this paper could lead to a deeper insight into the characteristics of ICP sources, which is extremely essential for optimizing the FS structure and designing large and powerful radio frequency ICPs in the future.

Oxygen atom density in a large reactor powered by four inductively coupled plasma sources

Gradients in O-atom density in metallic plasma reactor useful for rapid surface activation of 3D polymer products have been measured. The reactor of a volume of 150 l was equipped with four inductively coupled plasma sources (ICPS) of (predominantly) oxygen atoms, parallelly coupled with a radio-frequency generator of adjustable power up to 5 kW at 13.56 MHz. Molecular oxygen was continuously introduced into the ICP sources, where it was dissociated upon plasma conditions. The constant pumping of the plasma reactor enabled the effective transfer of O-atoms from the ICP sources, so that their density remained high in the entire chamber even far from plasma sources. The O-atom density was measured across the reactor with a movable catalytic probe calibrated for oxygen. The sophisticated immersible design enabled the O-atom density to exceed 1021 m−3 in the major chamber volume at the pressure of 20 Pa. At this pressure, a uniform plasma in the H-mode was sustained at the total real RF power of 1800 W. Significant gradients in the O-atom density were only detected next to ICP sources' exhausts and in the main chamber's metallic side tubes. Such uniform distribution of O-atoms in a large reactor is advantageous for rapid surface activation of 3D polymer products.

Low-energy electron beam generation in inductively coupled plasma via a DC biased grid

Low-energy electron beam generation using a DC biased grid was investigated in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The electron beam was measured in argon gas at various pressures, ICP source powers, and substrate voltages (V sub). At a low ICP source power (50 W), an electron beam was generated even at small values of V sub (10 V), however at a high ICP source power (200 W), an electron beam was only generated when a higher voltage (30 V) was applied due to the short sheath thickness on the grid surface. The sheath on the grid surface is an important factor for generating electron beams because low-energy electrons are blocked. If the sheath thickness to small, a high voltage should be applied to generate an electron beam, as accelerate regions cannot exist without the sheath. At high pressure, since electrons experience numerous neutral collisions, a high substrate voltage is needed to generate an electron beam. However, if the applied substrate voltage becomes too high (40 V) at high pressure, high-energy electrons result in secondary plasma under the grid. Therefore, maintaining a low pressure and low ICP source power is important for generating electron beams.

A method to evaluate the plasma equivalent resistance of fusion relevant RF ion sources

To optimize the RF power transfer process for fusion relevant RF ion sources, the electric models evaluating the plasma equivalent resistance (PER) are used in engineering, such as the transformer model. This paper presents a method to evaluate the PER based on a FEM model, viz. the electromagnetic model describing the RF coupling and numerically solved by the finite element method (FEM). The inductively coupled plasma (ICP) is treated as a lossy dielectric. Then the ICP source loaded by the plasma is modeled in a generic electromagnetic FEM code. The method was applied to two fusion relevant ICP sources. The results showed that PER from the FEM model is quantitatively closer to PER from experiments than PER from other electrical models. Though the error in PER from the FEM model is still large, the method is an alternative to estimate the PER of fusion relevant RF ion sources. The error is mainly due to the stochastic heating model and the neglect of magnetization. Besides, for fusion relevant RF ion sources, the good-conductor approximation does not apply to the plasma and the plasma nonuniformity should be considered in electric models.

Stress-driven surface swell and exfoliation of copper as the plasma-facing materials in NBI ICP source

Neutral beam injection (NBI) heating is a significant auxiliary heating method used in Tokamak fusion devices. The material of faraday shield (FS) and accelerator grids in the NBI inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source can be damaged during operation by the high-density hydrogen plasma irradiation, and thus affecting the stability of the NBI system. In this paper, a series of hydrogen plasma exposure experiments are performed on oxygen-free copper (OFC) specimens at 400 K–850 K with ion energy of 20–200 eV and irradiation fluence up to 1.0 × 1025 m−2. Meanwhile, the rate equation model is adopted for numerical simulation of the bubble growth and hydrogen retention. The influence of OFC surface temperature, hydrogen ion energy and fluence on OFC damage are experimentally and numerically investigated. Surface observations show that swell and exfoliation are formed on the OFC samples at 400 K and 600 K by scanning electron microscopy. The hydrogen ion energy varying from 20 to 200 eV at 400 K is observed to have little effect on OFC surface microstructure. The simulative results show that there exist different critical temperatures when the initial bubble radius changes. The bubble surface density rises and the bubble size decreases with increasing temperature (below the critical temperature). In addition, adjacent bubbles get closer to each other with the growth of hydrogen bubbles, and the strong tensile stress is produced inside the surrounding material of hydrogen bubbles. Some cracks caused by hydrogen bubbles appear on the surface of the OFC to relax the pressure-induced stress, ultimately leading to OFC FS/grids material damage. This investigation helps to understand hydrogen retention and failure mechanisms of OFC materials under extreme operation conditions in the NBI devices.

Radical flux control in reactive ion beam etching (RIBE) by dual exhaust system

Radicals generated during reactive ion etching (RIE) cannot be electrically controlled, causing isotropic etching and chemical damage to the sidewall of the etched feature during the etching process. In this study, using a reactive ion beam etcher (RIBE) installed with a dual exhaust system, where an additional exhaust valve was introduced to pump out radicals from the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source chamber in addition to the conventional main gate valve in the process chamber, the radical flux relative to ion flux during the RIE process has been controlled and the effect of additional exhausting through the ICP source chamber for the control of radical flux relative to ion flux on the properties of etching has been investigated using CF4 gas. The results showed that the additional exhausting of the radicals through the ICP source chamber not only decreased the ICP source chamber pressure but also decreased the ratio of radical flux to ion flux to the substrate. The lower ICP source chamber pressure could be also obtained without additional exhausting through the ICP source chamber by decreasing the CF4 gas flow rate to the ICP source chamber, however, the lower ratio of radical flux to ion flux was observed for the dual exhaust system. It is believed that, for the next generation RIBE, multiple exhausting is beneficial for anisotropic etching of nanoscale features by controlling the radical flux to the sidewall and ion flux to the bottom of a nanoscale feature during the etching.

Modulation of the plasma uniformity by coil and dielectric window structures in an inductively coupled plasma

The effects of coil and dielectric window structures on the plasma distribution are examined in a cylindrically symmetric planar inductively coupled plasma (ICP). A two-dimensional (2D) fluid model is employed to investigate the design issues of ICP source for etching. When the gradient coil structure is applied at 400 W and 20 mTorr, the ionization rate caused by the power deposition decreases at the reactor center as compared to that in a reactor with a planar coil above the planar dielectric window, and a rather uniform plasma is obtained. However, for the vertical coil geometry, all the coils move to the position of the outermost coil, and the peaks of the power deposition and ionization rate appear at the radial edge of the substrate. In this case, the plasma density is characterized by an edge-high profile. Further, it is observed that the plasma uniformity is improved by increasing the source power under a gas pressure of 20 mTorr and becomes better when the gas pressure increases to 30 mTorr with the source power being fixed at 400 W in the gradient coil configuration, but the uniformity of plasma worsens with the rising source power or pressure due to the strong localization in the vertical coil geometry. Moreover, when the discharge is sustained in a reactor with a stepped dielectric window at r = 0.135 m, the best plasma uniformity is obtained at 400 W and 20 mTorr because the ionization rate is enhanced at the outermost coil, and the dielectric window at r = 0.135 m blocks the diffusion of plasma towards the axis. In addition, higher source power and lower gas pressure produce more uniform plasma for the designs with a stepped window near the symmetry axis. When the dielectric window is stepped at r = 0.135 m, the non-uniformity of plasma initially decreases and then increases with the increase in source power or gas pressure. When the dielectric window is stepped at the radial edge of the chamber, the plasma uniformity is improved by increasing the source power and gas pressure due to the enhanced ionization at the larger radius caused by the severe localization.

Study on the influence of coil configuration on electromagnetic characteristics of inductively coupled plasma superimposed frequency selective surface

Aiming at the limitation of frequency selective surface (FSS) used in radome, a new type of active frequency selective surface (AFSS) based on inductively coupled plasma (ICP) is proposed. The structure consists of a square plasma discharge cavity with a size of 20 × 20 × 5 cm3 and a FSS with broadband bandpass response. By comparing the simulation results of COMSOL Multiphysics with the experimental results of microwave interference diagnosis, the influence of coil configuration on the characteristic parameters of ICP source is analyzed. The transmissivity of ICP-FSS with different coil configurations was measured by time domain measurement system. The experimental results show that the bandwidth of passband of the structure is 6.4 GHz–19.1 GHz when the ICP source is not excited. When the ICP source is excited, the ICP-FSS structure presents different stopband transmission characteristics under different coil configurations. The bandwidth of stopband widens as the RF power increases, and the transmission coefficient valley also increases, which can effectively reduce the detection probability of the radar in the off state. Therefore, the proposed AFSS based on inductively coupled plasma is an effective candidate for radome application.

Hybrid model of radio-frequency low-pressure inductively coupled plasma discharge with self-consistent electron energy distribution and 2D electric field distribution

Low-pressure radio-frequency (RF) inductively coupled plasmas (ICPs) are extensively used for materials processing. In this work, we have developed a hybrid model consisting of two-dimensional (2D) Maxwell equations with an open boundary, zero-dimensional Boltzmann equation under linear and quasilinear approximations, and a power balance equation. The hybrid model is capable of achieving a self-consistent description of the electron heating mechanism and electron kinetics for the RF ICPs at low pressures. This work presents an investigation of the influence of operating conditions on 2D distributions of electric field and power density, normalized electron energy probability function (EEPF) (effective electron temperature), and plasma density in a low-pressure RF Ar ICP using the hybrid model. The results show that the RF frequency and absorption power significantly affect the 2D distributions and amplitudes of electric field and power density. The normalized EEPF is almost independent of RF frequency and weakly dependent on absorption power but significantly modulated by pressure at low RF frequency. The plasma density is also almost independent of RF frequency but increases with absorption power and pressure. In addition, we have validated the hybrid model against experimental data obtained in the driver region of a two-chamber RF Ar ICP source, where the RF frequency is 13.56 MHz, the power range is 200–1000 W and the pressure range is 0.1–1.0 Pa. The hybrid model qualitatively (and even quantitatively for some cases) reproduces the experimentally normalized EEPF and plasma density. The discrepancies in these plasma parameters could be attributed to the simplified collision processes taken into account in the hybrid model. The developed hybrid model can help us to better understand the effect of discharge conditions on electron kinetics and electron heating mechanism, and to ultimately optimize the parameters of RF ICP sources.

Chlorine‐Based High Density Plasma Etching of α-Ga2O3 Epitaxy Layer

High density plasma etching of α-Ga2O3 epitaxy layer was performed in chlorine-based (Cl2/Ar and BCl3/Ar) inductively coupled plasmas (ICPs) and the effect of plasma composition, ICP source power and rf chuck power on the etch rate and surface morphology has been studied. The α-Ga2O3 etch rate increased as Cl2 or BCl3 content in the gas mixture and ICP source power increased, and Cl2/Ar ICP discharges produced higher etch rates than BCl3/Ar discharges under the conditions examined. Increasing rf chuck power was found to increase the α-Ga2O3 etch rate and to improve surface morphology of the etched field. The highest etch rates of ~ 612 A/min and ~ 603 A/min were obtained in 13Cl2/2Ar and 13BCl3/2Ar ICP discharges under a moderate source power (500 W) and rf chuck power (250 W) condition, respectively. Anisotropic pattern transfer with a vertical sidewall was performed into the α-Ga2O3 layer using a 10Cl2/5Ar ICP discharge.

Плазмохимическое травление тонких пленок серебра для приложений плазмоники индуктивно-связанной аргоновой плазмой

The study focuses on the processes of plasma-chemical etching of silver films for the manufacture of photonic elements --- nanoscale light sources, and examines the theoretical foundations of etching processes and the process of plasma formation in plasma-chemical etching facilities. We assessed the introduced technology when forming topological elements in thin films of silver metal, and identified key problems, such as redeposition and non-volatility of the material. The paper presents the results of simulating the etching process for several critical submicron sizes, and, based on the simulation results, shows the dependences of the etching rates on the power of the plasma sources. The focus is on the formation of holes to create a nanoscale light source. Both positive and negative properties of the plasma-chemical etching method using a source of inductive-coupled plasma are considered, and the features of technological facilities used for these processes are outlined. The process of formation of nanoelements in a silver film and the effect of redeposition of material particles as a result of ion sputtering are considered. We propose a two-stage etching process, which makes it possible to form a vertical profile of the walls of the manufactured elements and to avoid the effect of redeposition. We also give recommendations for the processes of etching through an electron-beam resist in facilities with an inductive-coupled plasma source. By optimizing the thicknesses of the resistive mask and plasma sources, we obtained the results of etching nanoscale elements with preservation of geometric shapes

Optimization of discharge antenna turn and modulation of EEPFs and plasma parameters in dual-frequency cylindrical ICP source at different gas pressures

This paper deals with the optimization of the number of discharge antenna turns N, mainly including the effect of N on the plasma parameters [plasma density ne, effective electron temperature Teff, plasma potential Vp, power transfer efficiency η, and electron energy probability function (EEPF)] in cylindrical inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source, and compares axial and radial distribution of ne with different antenna arrangement topologies, mainly referring to the non-interleaved and interleaved antenna arrangement in cylindrical dual-frequency (DF) ICPs. It is found that the cylindrical DF-ICPs with interleaved antenna arrangement can produce a higher ne due to the superposition effect of the high-frequency (HF) and low-frequency (LF) discharge region. Furthermore, based on the above optimized parameters, an optimized cylindrical DF-ICP with an interleaved antenna arrangement is employed, and the modulations of EEPFs and plasma parameters (ne, Teff, and Vp) in the case of (1) fixed HF power and varying additional LF power and (2) fixed LF power and varying additional HF power correspondingly are investigated and compared at different gas pressures of 1, 15, and 60 mTorr systematically. With the wide gas pressure range from 1 to 60 mTorr considered in a combination with two discharge frequencies of 2 and 13.56 MHz, the DF discharge covers discharge maintenance under different conditions with respect to electron heating mechanisms, e.g., collision-less and collision heating. This is a relatively comprehensive work about cylindrical DF-ICPs, which will provide some insights into the design and plasma parameters modulation of cylindrical DF-ICPs.

Deep reactive ion etching of silicon using non-ICP-based equipment

Deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) technology is one of the most important technologies in the processing of microelectronic devices and microelectromechanical system. As a necessary process in semiconductor integration, it has been widely studied in the past decades. It is known that the traditional DRIE process typically uses a plasma etching reactor equipped with inductively coupled plasma (ICP) sources to generate a high-density plasma so as to achieve high aspect ratio trenches with relatively small roughness. A cryogenic temperature control unit is typically employed as well. Here, however, we use a parallel plate RIE with rather simple structure, which is not usually used for DRIE, to obtain high aspect ratio silicon etching. With no ICP sources and no sophisticated temperature control unit, the system and experiment are now much more cost effective. Through the optimization of the processing, the etching rate of silicon can reach 440 nm/min. Finally, a 45 μm deep trench is etched in silicon with good perpendicularity. This method will greatly reduce the equipment related cost, especially for those applications that do not have extremely stringent requirement on the final etching accuracy.

Multi-Layer Anti-Reflection Film Based on SiOx and NbOx by DC Pulse Sputter System with Inductively Coupled Plasma Source

The research on anti-reflection (AR) optical thin film has long sought to obtain high-performance reflection and transmission properties in photovoltaic and photonic devices. The study of multi-layer AR (M-AR) film with low- and high-refractive-index materials is essential to increase the selective transmittance and reflectance at visible light wavelengths. However, M-AR film exhibits low substrate adhesion and slow deposition rates. We developed a DC pulse sputter system incorporating an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source of high density to obtain high-quality M-AR film. Six-layer AR optical thin film was simulated using SiOx as a low-refractive-index material and NbOx as a high-refractive-index material. The multi-layer AR film based on SiOx and NbOx (M-SiNb) was fabricated using DC pulse sputtering which incorporated an ICP source. M-SiNb film exhibited better properties than the optical simulation results at 550 nm (transmittance: 99.19%, reflectance: 0.87%). Similarly, the M-SiNb film fabricated using the ICP source had high transmittance and reflectance in the visible light region and excellent adhesion to the substrate notwithstanding the various mechanical tests it was subjected to. Consequently, the development of the DC pulse sputter system included the ICP source, and this study represents important research in the field of optical film.

Effect of radio frequency bias on plasma characteristics of inductively coupled argon discharge based on fluid simulations**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11875101 and 11905307).

A fluid model is employed to investigate the effect of radio frequency bias on the behavior of an argon inductively coupled plasma (ICP). In particular, the effects of ICP source power, single-frequency bias power, and dual-frequency bias power on the characteristics of ICP are simulated at a fixed pressure of 30 mTorr (1 Torr = 1.33322 × 102 Pa). When the bias frequency is fixed at 27.12 MHz, the two-dimensional (2D) plasma density profile is significantly affected by the bias power at low ICP source power (e.g., 50 W), whereas it is weakly affected by the bias power at higher ICP source power (e.g., 100 W). When dual-frequency (27.12 MHz/2.26 MHz) bias is applied and the sum of bias powers is fixed at 500 W, a pronounced increase in the maximum argon ion density is observed with the increase of the bias power ratio in the absence of ICP source power. As the ratio of 27.12-MHz/2.26-MHz bias power decreases from 500 W/0 W to 0 W/500 W with the ICP source power fixed at 50 W, the plasma density profiles smoothly shifts from edge-high to center-high, and the effect of bias power on the plasma distribution becomes weaker with the bias power ratio decreasing. Besides, the axial ion flux at the substrate surface is characterized by a maximum at the edge of the substrate. When the ICP source power is higher, the 2D plasma density profiles, as well as the spatiotemporal and radial distributions of ion flux at the substrate surface are characterized by a peak in the reactor center, and the distributions of plasma parameters are negligibly affected by the dual-frequency bias power ratio.

Monitoring and diagnosis of the inductively coupled atmospheric pressure plasma jet for deterministic optical processing

Inductively coupled atmospheric pressure plasma processing (IC-APPP) is a promising figuring technique for the optical processing of silicon-based optics. However, its processing efficiency and accuracy rely on the stability of the characteristics of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) jet, which is determined by the jet working parameters. Currently, the jet working parameters have been empirically determined by substantial processing experiments, which is tedious and costly. Therefore, in this paper, a real-time monitoring and diagnostic system for quantitatively measuring and analyzing the jet characteristics is proposed to provide a basis for the choice of optimal working parameters. Firstly, the distributions of temperature and diatomic C2 within ICP jet were obtained, with which some diagnostic indices on the morphology, rigidity and excitation degree of ICP jet were proposed. Then, jet monitoring and diagnostic experiments were conducted to determine the optimal working parameters for generating the ICP jet with high rigidity and excitation degree. Finally, processing experiments under the determined optimal working parameters showed that the stability and repeatability of the removal function were well validated. It demonstrates that the proposed monitoring and diagnostic system is effective for rapid evaluation of ICP sources to determine the optimal working parameters for generating stable ICP jet.