Studies of silicon erosion in plasma-target-interaction from optical emission and absorption spectroscopy

The densities of eroded silicon from a target in interaction with a cylindrically symmetric plasma are determined from measurements of the transverse radiance and transmittance of Doppler broadened spectral lines with high spectral resolution. The transmission distributions, branching ratios, and the spectral line shapes, which depend on the optical depths of the emitting and absorbing particles along the line of sight, are investigated for particle density and temperature determination. First results on emission and transmission measurements of the Si I resonance multiplet spectral line branching ratios and line profiles (centered at 251 and 288 nm, respectively) for silicon as the erosion product from a C/C-SiC target in a low temperature plasma jet give absorption coefficients, from which erosion rates can be deduced, which are in good agreement with the results from the emission spectroscopy and from the gravimetric measurements.