Yong-Xin Liu

Microwave absorption properties of the carbon-coated nickel nanocapsules

The carbon-coated Ni(C) nanocapsules were prepared by a modified arc-discharge method in methane atmosphere. Its electromagnetic parameters were measured at 2–18GHz. It is observed that the natural resonance which appeared at 5.5GHz is dominant among microwave absorption properties of Ni(C) nanocapsules, as the consequence of the increased surface anisotropic energy for nanosized particles. The measured relative complex permittivity indicates that a high resistivity existed in Ni(C) nanocapsules samples. The maximum reflection loss of Ni(C) nanocomposites can reach 32dB at 13GHz with 2mm in thickness. The microwave absorptive mechanisms of Ni(C) nanocapsule absorbent were discussed.

Effect of bulk electric field reversal on the bounce resonance heating in dual-frequency capacitively coupled electronegative plasmas

The electron bounce resonance heating (BRH) in dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasmas operated in oxygen and argon has been studied by different experimental methods. In comparison with the electropositive argon discharge, the BRH in an electronegative discharge occurs at larger electrode gaps. Kinetic particle simulations reveal that in the oxygen discharge, the bulk electric field becomes quite strong and is out of phase with the sheath field. Therefore, it retards the resonant electrons when traversing the bulk, resulting in a suppressed BRH. This effect becomes more pronounced at lower high-frequency power, when the discharge mode changes from electropositive to electronegative.

Electron bounce resonance heating in dual-frequency capacitively coupled oxygen discharges

The electron bounce resonance heating (BRH) in dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasmas operated in oxygen is studied by different experimental methods and a particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC/MCC) simulation, and compared with the electropositive argon discharge. In comparison with argon, the experimental results show that in an oxygen discharge the resonance peaks in positive-ion density and light intensity tend to occur at larger electrode gaps. Moreover, at electrode gaps L > 2.5 cm, the positive-ion (and electron) density and the light emission drop monotonically in the oxygen discharge upon increasing L, whereas they rise (after an initial drop) in the argon case. At resonance gap the electronegativity reaches its maximum due to the BRH. All these experimental observations are explained by PIC/MCC simulations, which show that in the oxygen discharge the bulk electric field becomes quite strong and is out of phase with the sheath field. Therefore, it retards the resonance electrons when traversing the bulk, resulting in a suppressed BRH. Both experiment and simulation results show that this effect becomes more pronounced at lower high-frequency power, when the discharge mode changes from electropositive to electronegative. In a pure oxygen discharge, the BRH is suppressed with increasing pressure and almost diminishes at 12 Pa. Finally, the driving frequency significantly affects the BRH, because it determines the phase relation between bulk electric field and sheath electric field.

Spatially resolved measurements of ion density and electron temperature in a dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasma by complete floating double probe technique

Spatially resolved measurements of the ion density and electron temperature in a dual-frequency capacitively coupled Ar discharge plasma are performed with a newly developed complete floating double probe. Axial and radial distributions of the ion density and electron temperature under various high-frequency (HF) power and gas pressure were studied in detail. Both the ion density and the electron temperature increased with increasing HF power. With increasing gas pressure from 1.3 to 9.3 Pa, the radial profile of ion density below the driven electrode experienced a change from “bimodal” to “unimodal” shape, with better uniformity being achieved at the optimal pressure of about 5 Pa. In addition, changing the axial profile of ion density was also observed with the peak shift toward the powered electrode at higher pressures. The measured results showed satisfying consistency with that of improved two dimensional fluid simulations.

Experimental investigations of electron density and ion energy distributions in dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasmas for Ar/CF4 and Ar/O2/CF4 discharges

The electron density and ion energy distribution (IED) are investigated in low-pressure dual-frequency capacitively coupled Ar/CF4 (90%/10%) and Ar/O2/CF4 (80%/10%/10%) plasmas. The relations between controllable parameters, such as high-frequency (HF) power, low-frequency (LF) power and gas pressure, and plasma parameters, such as electron density and IEDs, are studied in detail by utilizing a floating hairpin probe and an energy resolved quadrupole mass spectrometer, respectively. In our experiment, the electron density is mainly determined by the HF power and slightly influenced by the LF power. With increasing gas pressure, the electron density first goes up rapidly to a maximum value and then decreases at various HF and LF powers. The HF power also plays a considerable role in affecting the IEDs under certain conditions and the ion energy independently controlled by the LF source is discussed here. For clarity, some numerical results obtained from a two-dimensional fluid model are presented.

Experimental observation of standing wave effect in low-pressure very-high-frequency capacitive discharges

Radial uniformity measurements of plasma density were carried out by using a floating double probe in a cylindrical (21 cm in electrode diameter) capacitive discharge reactor driven over a wide range of frequencies (27–220 MHz). At low rf power, a multiple-node structure of standing wave effect was observed at 130 MHz. The secondary density peak caused by the standing wave effect became pronounced and shifts toward the axis as the driving frequency further to increase, indicative of a much more shortened standing-wave wavelength. With increasing rf power, the secondary density peak shift toward the radial edge, namely, the standing-wave wavelength was increased, in good qualitative agreement with the previous theory and simulation results. At higher pressures and high frequencies, the rf power was primarily deposited at the periphery of the electrode, due to the fact that the waves were strongly damped as they propagated from the discharge edge into the center.

Experimental validation and simulation of collisionless bounce-resonance heating in capacitively coupled radio-frequency discharges

In low-pressure capacitively coupled radio-frequency discharges, when the driving frequency and discharge gap satisfy certain resonant conditions, the high-energy beam-like electrons generated by fast sheath expansion are bounced back and forth between two sheath edges, during which they can gain energy in each of the collisions with either of the expanding sheaths, and can consequently be heated by the two sheaths coherently. This is the so-called collisionless electron bounce-resonance heating (BRH). The first experimental evidence of BRH was reported by Liu et al (2011 Phys. Rev. Lett. 107 055002). Using a combined measurement of floating double probe and optical-emission spectroscopy, we further demonstrate the effect of BRH on plasma properties, such as plasma density and light emission. It is found that plasma density and excitation are enhanced due to BRH and have a significant dependence on the gap length, pressure, low frequency, high-frequency power and driving frequency, which are presented and discussed in detail. These observations can be explained satisfactorily by a self-consistent 1D3v particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision simulation in more detail.

Heating mode transition in capacitively coupled CF4 discharges: comparison of experiments with simulations

The electron heating mode transitions in capacitively coupled CF4 discharges were studied by synergistically using two diagnostic methods in combination with Particle-in-Cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC/MCC) simulations. Based on the method of phase resolved optical emission spectroscopy of trace rare gas, the spatiotemporal evolutions of energetic electrons were presented. The time-average electron density at the discharge center was measured by using a hairpin probe. All the experimental results were compared with those obtained from PIC/MCC simulations. Two different electron heating modes were observed depending on the discharge conditions: (1) the α mode (or electropositive mode), in which the electron heating maximum occurs near the sheath boundary, dominated by the sheath electric field during its expansion phase, (2) the drift-ambipolar (DA) mode (or electronegative mode), in which the electron heating maxima occur inside the entire bulk plasma and near the collapsing sheath edge, dominated by the drift field inside the bulk and the ambipolar fields near the collapsing sheath edge, respectively. The transitions between the two modes were presented when changing the rf power, working pressure and driving frequency.By increasing the power, the heating mode experiences a transition from DA to α mode. This is ascribed to the fact that at high powers, the sheath heating is enhanced, leading to a drastic decrease in the electronegativity, and consequently the DA electric field is significantly reduced. By increasing the pressure, a heating mode transition from a pure α mode, then a combination of α and DA modes, finally into a DA mode is induced. We found that the mode transition is much more sensitive to the change of working pressure than that of rf power. When increasing the pressure, there is an evident enhancement in the electron attachment, which can generate the negative ions and deplete the electrons, resulting in a higher electronegativity as well as a higher DA field, and therefore the excitation and ionization in the bulk are enhanced. The driving frequency is found to significantly affect the electronegativity, i.e. as the driving frequency increases, the discharge becomes more electropositive, and the sheath heating (α mode) dominates. Furthermore, we conclude that as the driving frequency is increased, the pressure, at which the mode transition occurs, is increased, while the power, at which the mode transition occurs, is decreased.

Electromagnetic effects in high-frequency large-area capacitive discharges: A review

In traditional capacitively coupled plasmas, the discharge can be described by an electrostatic model, in which the Poisson equation is employed to determine the electrostatic electric field. However, current plasma reactors are much larger and driven at a much higher frequency. If the excitation wavelength λ in the plasma becomes comparable to the electrode radius, and the plasma skin depth δ becomes comparable to the electrode spacing, the electromagnetic (EM) effects will become significant and compromise the plasma uniformity. In this regime, capacitive discharges have to be described by an EM model, i.e., the full set of Maxwells equations should be solved to address the EM effects. This paper gives an overview of the theory, simulation and experiments that have recently been carried out to understand these effects, which cause major uniformity problems in plasma processing for microelectronics and flat panel display industries. Furthermore, some methods for improving the plasma uniformity are also ...

Heating mechanism in direct current superposed single-frequency and dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasmas

In this work particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision simulations are performed to study the heating mechanism and plasma characteristics in direct current (dc) superposed radio-frequency (RF) capacitively coupled plasmas, operated both in single-frequency (SF) and dual-frequency (DF) regimes. An RF (60/2?MHz) source is applied on the bottom electrode to sustain the discharge, and a dc source is fixed on the top electrode. The heating mechanism appears to be very different in dc superposed SF and DF discharges. When only a single source of 60?MHz is applied, the plasma bulk region is reduced by the dc source, thus the ionization rate and hence the electron density decrease with rising dc voltage. However, when a DF source of 60 and 2?MHz is applied, the electron density can increase upon addition of a dc voltage, depending on the gap length and applied dc voltage. This is explained from the spatiotemporal ionization rates in the DF discharge. In fact, a completely different behavior is observed for the ionization rate in the two half-periods of the LF source. In the first LF half-period, the situation resembles the dc superposed SF discharge, and the reduced plasma bulk region due to the negative dc bias results in a very small effective discharge area and a low ionization rate. On the other hand, in the second half-period, the negative dc bias is to some extent counteracted by the LF voltage, and the sheath close to the dc electrode becomes particularly thin. Consequently, the amplitude of the high-frequency sheath oscillations at the top electrode is largely enhanced, while the LF sheath at the bottom electrode is in its expanding phase and can thus well confine the high-energy electrons. Therefore, the ionization rate increases considerably in this second LF half-period. Furthermore, in addition to the comparison between SF and DF discharges and the effect of gap length and dc voltage, the effect of secondary electrons is examined.