Space-time resolved diagnostics of radio frequency discharge kinetics.

Three applications of space-time resolved spectroscopy to the study of plasma processes are reviewed briefly. Each application emphasizes a different aspect of plasma chemistry: heterogeneous reactions, homogeneous reactions, and charged-particle transport. Spatially-resolved concentration profiles of reactants near surfaces provide estimates for heterogeneous reaction rates. This is demonstrated using data for CF sub 2 molecules near Si and O atoms near Al, graphite, and kapton. Space-time resolved plasma-reduced emission is used to distinguish between dissociative excitation mechanisms in bcl3-Ar discharge mixtures, where superelastic collisions of cold electrons with Ar metastables are shown to be important. Stark-mixed laser-induced fluorescence is used to measure the self-consistent electric fields that are responsible for controlling charged particle transport to and from device surfaces. The low frequency fields breath periodically as they extract ions from the sheath.