Qs. Yu et Hk. Yasuda, AN OPTICAL-EMISSION STUDY ON EXPANDING LOW-TEMPERATURE CASCADE ARC PLASMAS, Plasma chemistry and plasma processing, 18(4), 1998, pp. 461-485
The optical emission spectra from expanding low-temperature cascade ar
e plasmas were studied. The objective of this study was to examine the
distinctive features of low-temperature cascade are plasmas in compar
ison with a radio frequency (RF) plasma source. The principal results
obtained in this study were. (1) in an expanding cascade are plasma je
t, active heavy particles (mainly excited argon or helium neutral spec
ies under our operating conditions), rather than electrons, are respon
sible for the excitation of reactive species when a reactive gas is in
jected into the plasma jet, (2) the excitation of reactive species was
found to be controlled by the electronic energy levels of these excit
ed argon ou helium neutrals, (3) changing the operating parameters aff
ected only the emission intensities of excited species, and no effect
on the emission nature of plasmas was observed.