ENERGY-MASS SPECTROMETRY AND AUTOMATIC LANGMUIR PROBE MEASUREMENTS INREACTIVE ICP PLASMAS FOR DIAMOND DEPOSITION

Two different argon-hydrogen-methane gas mixtures Ar/H-2/CH4 250/25/0. 5 sccm (mixture 1) and Ar/H-2/CH4 50/50/0.5 sccm (mixture 2) were used in an inductive coupled planar radio frequency (rf) reactor (ICP). By means of separately mounted concentric coils and a grounded Faraday p olarizer on top of the reactor, diamond films were grown on to silicon . The electrically heated substrates were immersed in the most intense plasma region shaped as a torus. The selected plasma conditions (4 mb ar, 1.2 kW) in combination with mixture 1 resulted in fair quality dia mond with relatively high growth rates (0.6-1 mu m h(-1)). In the cour se of diamond growth, the plasma was investigated by means of a Langmu ir probe system (LP) and an energy and mass spectrometer (EMS). (C) 19 98 Elsevier Science S.A.