Mass Spectrometry to Control Dust Particle Growth in an Acetylene Plasma

Summary form only given. Dust particles are involved in a wide range of applications like thin film deposition or the manufacturing of microelectronic devices. They are an essential subject of research in the growing field of nanotechnology due to their interesting chemical and physical properties. In this study, nanoparticles are formed in a capacitively coupled asymmetric discharge running in an Ar/C2H2 mixture at a frequency of 13.56 MHz and RF-power of 9 W. The presence and growth of dust particles in a plasma change its properties like electron density or temperature. So to understand the formation and the growth of nanoparticles, it is necessary to study the complex physicochemical reactions in occuring hydrocarbon plasmas. Acetylene is used to provide the reactive species leading to dust particle growth. This cyclic process can be monitored in situ thanks to several methods [1]. Particularly, the different stages of dust particle growth like the nucleation and agglomeration can be evidenced by correlating the evolution of the electrical characteristics of the discharge with time resolved mass spectrometry. In this presentation, the evolution of the self-bias voltage [2] can be correlated with the acetylene concentration during nanoparticle growth.