Spectroscopic investigations of pulsed microwave generated Ar, N2 and silane plasmas

The Plasmodul (Proc. ISPC 15, Orleans, V (2001) 1853), an array of four parallel coaxial microwave guides is used as source for (square wave) pulsed plasmas in argon, nitrogen and silane at pressures of 5–50 Pa. The plasma is homogeneously extended over an area of 12 by 12 cm2. The temporal and radial behaviour of the electron temperature Te(r, t), the electron density ne(r, t) and the densities of several molecules, atoms and ions are investigated with different diagnostic tools. The data are compared and discussed for the three different plasma gases.