MIE-SCATTERING ELLIPSOMETRY FOR ANALYSIS OF PARTICLE BEHAVIORS IN PROCESSING PLASMAS

In-process Mie-scattering ellipsometry has been newly developed. The refractive index of the particles and the spread of particle size distribution, as well as the mean particle size and the density, can be evaluated by the method. As a demonstration, the behavior of carbon particles injected into argon plasma was observed. It was suggested from the analyzed results that the size of carbon particles increased through coagulation in argon plasma, the geometric standard deviation of the size distribution was about 1.5, and the coagulated particles have smaller refractive index than evaporated carbon.