Reaction chemistry in reactive microplasma jets

• Applicant: Professor Jan Benedikt, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2009 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 74729252

Reactive species are generated in reactive microplasma jets in the plasma bulk and are transported to the surface by the effluent. Thereby, surface modification or film deposition applications can be realized. This transport also implies a transfer of energy via dissociative recombination, Penning-ionization or -dissociation. For an achievement of superior material properties, this energy transport to the surface is essential since it may trigger desorption or film modification reactions. This process is investigated in this project by a combined approach. On one hand, the ionic contribution as carrier of potential energy is analyzed by a specialized molecular beam sampling unit, which combines a triple pumping stage with an ion optic to guide the ions into a mass spectrometer. The resulting surface processes are analyzed by a monolayer sensitive rotating substrate experiment to separate the surface treatment by several microplasma jets and the intermittent infrared analysis of the deposited films. Thereby, the feasibility of reactive microplasmas as energy sources for surface activation are explored. As a robust and reasonably well studied model system, the emphasis is on the synthesis of silicon oxide films.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 1123: Physics of Microplasmas
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Achim von Keudell