PRODUCTION OF LOW-PRESSURE PLANAR NON-MAGNETIZED PLASMAS SUSTAINED UNDER A DIELECTRIC-FREE METAL-PLASMA INTERFACE

Large-area Ar and CF4 non-magnetized plasmas were produced in an entir ely metal (stainless steel) plasma chamber with a diameter of 220 mm b y 2.45 GHz electromagnetic wave launched by slot antennas cut in the t op circular metal lid. Dielectric (quartz) was used only for local vac uum sealing over the slot antennas, occupying less than 20% of the top metal area. At low pressure of 10 mTorr, overdense (>10(11) cm(-3)) p lasma was produced filling the whole chamber cross-section similarly t o the known case of surface-wave plasmas produced below a large dielec tric window covering 100% of the top chamber lid. The absence of this large dielectric suggests that this approach can be used for developin g large area non-magnetized plasma source with less impurities for thi n film processing.