ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE DISCHARGE OF GAS SUBLIMATED FROM DECABORANE BY CO2-LASER IRRADIATION

Stable plasmas are produced by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) discharge of gas sublimated from decaborane in the solid state by CO2 laser irradiation. Spectroscopic measurements of resonance line emissions reveal that the density of the sublimation gas is proportional to the square root of the input power of the CO2 laser. Emissions from boron atoms are due to dissociative excitation of the gas, and those from the ions are due to excitation after dissociative ionization. The electron temperature and the density of helium plasmas are about 6 eV and (0.5-3.0) X 10(11) cm-3, in the resonance region, respectively. Hydrogenated boron films are prepared using ECR discharge of the sublimation gas under conditions of substrate temperature of 230-degrees-C and the applied voltage of - 55 V. The deposition rate is about 17 angstrom/s and hydrogen concentration of the film is about 13%.