Mass spectrometric investigations of a plasma jet chemical vapor deposition reactor

Summary form only given. High density plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition is a technology of growing importance in the deposition of materials for the semiconductor and optoelectronics industries. Direct current (DC) plasma jets (also known as arcjets) are a particular form of high density plasma source that produce a high velocity (5-10 km/sec) plasma stream (20-30% dissociation fraction, n/sub e//spl sim/10/sup 13/ cm/sup -3/). The plasma jet provides large convective fluxes of chemically reactive radical species, in super-equilibrium concentrations, that are stagnated on a substrate on which film growth occurs. High quality films of materials such as diamond, cubic boron nitride, aluminum nitride, and gallium nitride have been grown by this method at growth rates that are high compared with other deposition methods.