Title :
Temporal measurement of plasma density variations above a semiconductor bridge (SCB)
Author :
Kim, Jongdae ; Schamiloglu, Edl ; Martinez-Tovar, Bernardo ; Jungling, Kenneth C.
Author_Institution :
Center for High Technol. Mater., New Mexico Univ., Albuquerque, NM, USA
fDate :
8/1/1995 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
The plasma density variations above a semiconductor bridge (SCB) device employing a capacitor discharge firing set have been measured in vacuum (⩽10-5 torr). A novel diagnostic technique using a microwave resonator probe was used to measure the resultant plasma density variations as a function of time. This method is superior to Langmuir probes in this application because Langmuir probe measurements are affected by sheath effects, small bridge area, and unknown fraction of multiple ions. Our experimental results indicate that the plasma density is observed to increase to a peak value of 5.5× 1011 cm-3 and decay exponentially with time, which is consistent with diffusion dominating the plasma transport. The time needed for reaching the peak plasma density is about 1.6 μs, which is the duration of the late time discharge of an SCB device
Keywords :
cavity resonators; discharges (electric); microwave devices; plasma density; plasma diagnostics; plasma probes; plasma production; 1E-5 torr; Langmuir probes; bridge area; capacitor discharge firing set; decay exponentially; diffusion; late time discharge; microwave resonator probe; multiple ions; peak plasma density; plasma density variations; plasma transport; semiconductor bridge; sheath effects; temporal measurement; Bridges; Capacitors; Density measurement; Microwave devices; Microwave measurements; Microwave theory and techniques; Plasma density; Plasma measurements; Probes; Time measurement;
Journal_Title :
Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on