Optical Emission Analysis of Atmospheric Pressure Methane Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition

Abstract

The distinctive glow features of low-temperature RF CH₄/Ar plasma chemical vapor deposition and its correlation with plasma-deposited film characterizations were investigated. The optical emission spectroscopy diagnosis data and deposition results clearly indicated that, during CH₄/Ar glow discharge, the CH and C₂ species resulted from the low-energy electron-impact dissociation of CH₄ molecules that formed the deposition species, but the strong Ar emission lines were related to non-deposition species such as the argon atom. The results of the optical emission analysis indicated that the possible contribution of atmospheric pressure plasma-deposited film growth occurs primarily owing to a combination of electron-impactdissociation and ionization.