Investigation on a low pressure plasma jet in an inductively coupled plasma

Summary form only given. Tuning of electron temperature or high energy electron population enhancement can greatly influence the yield of active species and hence be quite significant for material processing. In our recent experiment of N/sub 2//Ar and N/sub 2//He discharges, a low pressure plasma jet (LPPJ) is observed out of a rectangular hole on a metallic cylinder which is used to confine an inductively coupled plasma and is placed in a large vacuum chamber. The occurrence of the LPPJ depends on the gas pressure (typically 5/spl sim/30 mTorr) and gas composition. Usually the LPPJ is about several centimeters long and has a regular profile. By using a Langmuir probe, spatially-resolved electron temperature, electron density and electron energy distribution function (EEDF) of the LPPJ are measured. An EEDF with overpopulated high energy electrons is found near the hole. A much stronger VUV radiation intensity and higher atomic nitrogen density in the LPPJ mode suggest that LPPJ can be a good source of active species and can have a profound effect in certain material processing applications.