NEGATIVE-IONS IN A RADIOFREQUENCY PLASMA IN CF4

Experiments to study negative ion densities in a radio-frequency CF4 plasma have been carried out using a photodetachment technique. Electrons are photodetached from the negative ions using the pulse of a Nd-YAG laser at the tripled (355 nm) or the quadrupled (266 nm) frequency. The photodetached electrons are detected by a microwave method as a sudden increase of the electron density in the plasma. The negative ion density, which consists mainly of F-, is found to be typically four times higher than the stationary electron density at a pressure of 13 Pa, an RF power of 15 W and a CF4 flow of 15 SCCM. The measured decay of the detached electrons after the laser pulse has been interpreted in terms of electron attachment and ambipolar diffusion. The results demonstrate the possibilities for use of this technique to evaluate attachment coefficients in active plasmas. The attachment rate constant for CF4 is found to be (7 +/- 1) X 10(-17) m3 s-1 at RF powers of 15 W. The electron diffusion coefficient is 0.13 +/- 0.12 m2 s-1 at standard conditions of 1 Torr and 300 K.