DUSTY PLASMA FORMATION - PHYSICS AND CRITICAL PHENOMENA - THEORETICALAPPROACH

Kinetics of the many-stage process of particle nucleation and growth i n low-pressure rf discharge in silane SiH4-Ar is considered. The parti cle growth is considered in an analytical model as a chain of negative -ion molecular reactions, stimulated by vibrational excitation. In the framework of this model, a limitation of first generation particle si ze is explained as well as the strong temperature effect on cluster gr owth. A theory of critical phenomena of cluster trapping in discharge area has been elaborated to describe the neutral particle selection by size, and the particle concentration increases during a period exceed ing the residence time in plasma. Finally, an analytical model of crit ical phenomena of particle coagulation and its influence on plasma par ameters is developed to explain the latest experimental results on sup ersmall 2-10 nm cluster kinetics. All theoretical results are presente d in comparison with corresponding new experimental data and with resu lts of an especially made computer simulation. (C) 1996 American Insti tute of Physics.