Computer simulation of a carbon-deposition plasma in CH4

A transport and reaction model of a low-pressure, high-frequency (13.56 MHz) CH₄ plasma used for diamondlike carbon (a-C:H) deposition was developed. The model includes reactions among four molecular species (CH₄, C₂ H₆, C₂H₄, and H₂), five radicals and atom (CH₃, CH₂, CH, C₂H₅, and H), and four ions (CH₄⁺ , CH₃⁺, CH₅⁺, and C ₂H₅⁺). It also accounts for the influence of the sticking coefficient of species at the walls. Calculated values of the dissociation degree for several flow rates are in good agreement with experimental measurements made by quadrupole mass spectroscopy. A simple surface-model based on the hydrogen coverage of surface and ion flux and energy at the substrate surface was established. This model permitted the calculation of the deposition rate on the powered electrode as a function of the power applied to this electrode. Good agreement between experimental and calculated growth rates was obtained when CH₃, C₂H₅, and CH₂ were assumed to participate in film formation, and when hydrogen removal by ion bombardment with variable energy as a function of the power was included in the model