Reactive expansion of laser-induced boron/carbon plasma in ECR nitrogen plasma during the deposition of BCN films

Formation of diatomic molecular radicals in reactive nitrogen-carbon plasma generated by electron cyclotron resonance discharge and pulsed laser ablation

“…11 Nitrogen plasma was first ignited in a discharge chamber by ECR microwave discharge of flowing (35 sccm) pure N 2 gas maintained at 3 Â 10 -2 Pa (called ECR plasma here). The ECR plasma was introduced into a working chamber where laser ablation was performed and from which optical emission was extracted.…”

“…(5) should be the dominant channel for the formation of gaseous CN radicals in the region far away from the target in the reactive ECR-PLA plasma. In the vicinity of the substrate, in particular, the formation of CN radicals are most efficient, which is of significance from the viewpoint of the formation of carbon nitride phases and the preparation of carbon nitride compounds, 11,13,15,24,30 though the detailed mechanisms need to be further clarified.…”

“…8,9 If the target ablation is performed in the plasma generated by ECR discharge, the interactions between the plume induced by PLA and the surrounding plasma generated by ECR discharge result in the formation of a hybrid plasma containing the species originally present in the working gas and directly ablated from the target, as well as, the species formed as the products of gas-phase reactions occurring in the resulting plasma. 10,11 This is an unusual plasma with unique characteristics very different from those of the plasma solely generated by ECR discharge or induced by PLA, exhibiting high excitation and high reactivity of plasma species including reactive radials and ions. Such a plasma offers several merits in plasma processing for materials synthesis and fabrication.…”

“…Such a plasma offers several merits in plasma processing for materials synthesis and fabrication. 11,12 For the purposes of this paper, we have focused our attention on the formation of diatomic molecular radicals C 2 and CN in a hybrid nitrogen-carbon plasma resulted during the expansion of the carbon plume induced by ablating a graphite target in the nitrogen plasma generated by ECR discharge of N 2 gas. C 2 and CN species are particularly important for the synthesis of various carbon nanostructures, such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and carbon nitride nanocones, and can act as building units for such nanomaterials.…”