Dynamic pulsed plasma reactor for chemical vapor deposition of advanced materials

Abstract

A dynamic pulsed plasma reactor (DPPR) capable of chemical vapor deposition of advanced materials on substrates located in a supersonic expansion nozzle is described. The DPPR combines plasma, shock tube, and supersonic expansion nozzle techniques in obtaining vapor phase quenching rates of 107–108 K/s for nanometric particle size formation. Deposition of Ti(s) and TiN(s) from Ar–TiCl4, Ar–H2–TiCl4, and N2–H2–TiCl4 reactants were experimentally investigated with deposition products characterized by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and energy dispersive x-ray analytical techniques. Theoretical gas dynamics describing wave motion and propagation of reactants in the DPPR are presented and resulted in identifying deposition mechanisms of homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation for Ti(s) and TiN(s) on Pyrex substrates, respectively. This article describes reactor design, operating characteristics, and theoretical wave dynamics in the experimental system.

Experimental study of pulsed microwave discharges at pressures ranging over five orders of magnitude

“…The analysis of the literature shows that the microwave discharge has been widely investigated during the last thirty years regarding to plasma chemistry applications. At low and moderate pressures, the microwave plasma was studied for chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [14,15], removal of volatile air pollutants [16], ignition of supersonic flows and so on. The effect of frequency and duty cycle of a pulsed microwave 2.45 GHz plasma on the chemical vapor deposition of diamond has been studied at P = 40 Torr [15] using a gas mixture of 0.6% CH 4 by volume in H 2 .…”