Characterization of a low-energy constricted-plasma source

The construction and principle of operation of the constricted-plasma source are described. A supersonic plasma stream is produced by a special form of a de-glow discharge, the constricted glow discharge. The discharge current and gas flow pass through an orifice of small diameter (constriction) which causes a space charge double layer but also serves as a nozzle to gas-dynamically accelerate the plasma flow. Plasma parameters have been measured using Langmuir probes, optical emission spectroscopy, and a plasma monitor for mass-resolved energy measurements. Experiments have been done with nitrogen as the discharge gas. It was found that the energy distribution of both atomic and molecular ions have two peaks at about 5 and 15 eV, and the energy of almost all ions is less than 20 eV. The ionization efficiency decreases with increasing gas flow. The downstream plasma density is relatively low but activated species such as excited molecules and radicals contribute to film growth when the source is used for reactive film deposition. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(98)57302-9].