From thin films to nanoparticles

One important problem for the application of reactive low temperature plasmas is the formation of nanoparticles in the plasma volume. It is well known that such particles may act as "killer particles" which are responsible, for example, for the malfunction of integrated circuits. On the other hand a controlled growth of particles is desired for applications in catalysis and pharmacy and for the fabrication of nano-crystalline materials. In the latter case nanoparticles are incorporated into the growing film for a controlled modification of film properties. Especially in gas mixtures which are used for thin film deposition, polymerization processes in the plasma volume - leading to the formation of particles - are competing with "surface polymerization" processes which are leading to the formation of thin films. In this work both processes were studied in a capacitively coupled GEC Cell in mixtures of argon and different hydrocarbon gases