SECONDARY PHOTON-EMISSION IN PLASMA PROCESSING

Optical emission spectroscopy with high spatial resolution was applied for the study of plasma-material interaction in low-pressure reactive ion etching. Atomic and molecular emission by sputtered material has been found to be strongly localized near the surface. Excited particle s are produced during sputtering by energetic ions, with the mechanism s being different for atoms and molecules. In atomic secondary photon emission, a cascade from highly excited levels is shown to be importan t. This method can be used as a probe during plasma processing. (C) 19 97 American Institute of Physics.