Multi-diagnostic of dust growth in a capacitive Ar/C2H2 plasma

The interest in the production of nanoparticles (NPs) within Ar/C(2)H(2 )reactive plasmas is increasing, driven by their potential applications in functional materials or for their analogy to cosmic dust. The growth process of NPs has been thoroughly examined using a broad array of diagnostic tools. Significant among these tools are those that determine two-dimensional distributions of NP sizes and densities. The inherent complexity of these techniques has resulted in a limited number of works that integrate these measurements with a multitude of other diagnostic tools. Here, we show a multi-diagnostic exploration of the growing process of NPs in Ar/C2H2 plasmas. The combination of in-situ techniques, such as scattered light images, optical emission spectroscopy, light extinction, quadrupole mass signals, or self-bias voltage, with ex-situ scanning electron microscopy images and FTIR spectra of the deposited dust, provides a detailed picture of the growth process. The temporal evolution of plasma parameters, coupled with chemical composition measurements, provides a comprehensive description of the dust growth phases, and the FTIR measurements reveal an appreciable difference in chemical composition between the core and shell of the NPs. Furthermore, employing a method based on the terminal falling velocity of NPs in the afterglow, the intrinsic mass density of NPs is estimated. The asymmetries observed in the spatial distributions of NP size and density are qualitatively discussed in terms of neutral drag, ion drag, and electrostatic forces.