Numerical investigation of vacuum ultraviolet emission in Ar-O<sub>2</sub> inductively coupled plasmas

ORAL

Abstract

The emission of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation is investigated in low-pressure Ar-O2 inductively coupled plasmas via numerical simulations. Controlling VUV fluxes is important in a number of industrial and biomedical plasma applications because, depending on the process, VUV radiation may be desired, required to a certain degree, or unwanted. For this purpose, a self-consistent Ar-O2 plasma-chemical reaction scheme has been implemented in a zero dimensional plasma chemistry model and is used to investigate VUV emission from excited O atoms (3s 5S0 and 3s 3S0) at 130 and 135 nm. The model has been successfully compared against experimental measurements of VUV emission, electron densities and excited state densities. In addition, VUV emission rates are investigated as a function of pressure, Ar-O2 mixture, and continuous and pulsed power deposition. Moreover, the dominant reaction pathways leading to VUV emission have been identified and described. In general, when the dissociation degree of O2 is large, VUV emission is high and is dominated by 130nm light from the decay of O(3s 3S0) to ground state. On the other hand, when the dissociation degree is low VUV emission rates are also low and are dominated by dissociative electron impact excitation processes.

*Fusion Centre for Doctoral Training; UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/L01663X/1]

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Presenters

  • Michel Osca Engelbrecht

    • York Plasma Institute, Department of Physics, University of York, UK

Authors

  • Michel Osca Engelbrecht

    • York Plasma Institute, Department of Physics, University of York, UK

  • Christopher P Ridgers

    • York Plasma Institute, Department of Physics, University of York, UK

  • Andrew R Gibson

    • Research Group for Biomedical Plasma Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Sciences, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
    • 1) Research Group for Biomedical Plasma Technology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany; 2) Institute for Electrical Engineering and Plasma Technology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germ
    • Research Group for Biomedical Plasma Technology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150 D-44801 Bo­chum, Germany
    • Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
    • Institute of Electrical Engineering and Plasma Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
    • Ruhr University Bochum