Production of high-density capacitive plasma by the effects of multihollow cathode discharge and high-secondary-electron emission

Abstract

High-density capacitively coupled plasma with electron density of 1011cm−3 was produced with the effects of the multihollow cathode discharge and the high-secondary-electron emission from radio frequency (rf)-biased electrode using Ar gas. It was found that the optimum pressure was around 3–15Pa. In the case of only multihollow cathode discharge, the plasma density increased from 1.2×1010to8×1010cm−3 with the increasing distance z from the cathode electrode for 5mm<z<15mm. Moreover, plasma density increased with increasing voltage of rf-biased electrode. The rate of deposited amorphous hydrocarbon thin films of about 200nm∕min was attained with the high-density rf plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using CH4 gas.