CHARACTERIZATION OF ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON RESONANCE PROCESS PLASMA AND FILM DEPOSITION

The characteristics of an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) process plasma in hydrogen gas were studied taking into account the spatially localized property of the ECR phenomenon. A strongly non-uniform axial temperature distribution of electrons was observed at a high pressure of 3 x 10(-1) Pa with the appearance of the temperature peak near the resonance zone owing to the high collisionality of electrons with neutral gas. An admixture of CH4 with the H-2 plasma brought about cooling of electrons mainly near the resonance zone by a multiple dissociative collision process of electrons with CH4 gas. Deposition of a-C:H or a-Si:H films in a CH4 or an SiH4 gas environment indicated a remarkable variation of the film properties as well as the deposition rate in the axial direction, again giving the maximum growth rate near the resonance zone.