MEASUREMENTS IN SILANE RADIO-FREQUENCY GLOW-DISCHARGES USING A TUNED AND HEATED LANGMUIR PROBE

A tuned and heated Langmuir probe has been used for combating the effe ct of radio frequency (rf) interference and contamination of the probe surface on the measurements in pure silane rf glow discharges. The me asured probe I-V characteristic curves in the discharges were surprisi ngly reproducible over the period of 1 h. The non-Maxwellian electron energy distribution functions in pure silane rf discharges have been s uccessfully measured using the probe. The mean electron energy and ele ctron density in the discharges have been inferred from the electron e nergy distribution functions. The experimental results have been used for selecting the optimum parameters of discharge conditions for depos iting an a-Si:H film with high quality at a high deposition rate of 1 nm/s.