Low-pressure breakdown in fluorocarbon gases

Fluorocarbon plasmas are typically considered for applications in plasma etching and therefore systems operating in rf fields are studied. However, one needs a lot of information from the basic dc discharges and gas breakdown in order to understand and test the kinetics of secondary electron production at electrodes and to describe the non-local electron kinetics in the cathode fall. We will present experimental and modelling results of breakdown and low current discharge properties obtained for fluorocarbons CHClF$_2$, CF$_4$ and CF$_4$-Ar mixtures, in the range of pressures from 100~mTorr to 1~Torr. Experimental measurements in the pulsed mode of operation were used to obtain the basic experimental data especially the spatio-temporal profiles of emission obtained by using ICCD. Particle in cell (PIC) code which includes proper description of secondary electron yield [1] was used to obtain the theoretical data and properties of low current discharges. In addition, we have used a standard Monte Carlo Code [2] to study the the non-hydrodynamic region close to the cathode and also the effective electron multiplication coefficients. [1] Radmilovi\'c-Radjenovi\'c, J.~K.~Lee, F.~Iza and G.~Y.~Park, \textit{J. Phys.} D, \textbf{38} (2005) 950. [2] G.~Malovi\'c, A.~Strini\'c, S.~\v{Z}ivanov, D.~Mari\'c and Z.~\mbox{Lj.} Petrovi\'c, \textit{Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.} \textbf{12} (2003) S1.