Characterization of hydrogen plasma with a fiber optics catalytic probe

The most important parameter in reactive hydrogen plasma is the density of neutral hydrogen atoms. The density can be measured by different means including a variety of optical emission and absorption spectroscopy methods, titration and catalytic probes. Recently, it was shown that catalytic probes have some advantages over the other methods. The main advantage is the ability for real time measurement of the atom density. A catalytic probe was used to measure the H density in an afterglow of a plasma reactor. Plasma was created in a mixture of argon and hydrogen. At a constant H2 and Ar flow rates, the H density was found to increase with increasing power. At a low concentration of hydrogen in the gas mixture, saturation in the H density was observed. The lower the hydrogen concentration the lower the power at which the saturation was observed. At high hydrogen concentrations, no H saturation was observed. The results were explained with collision phenomena in ionized gases and heterogeneous recombination of H atoms on surfaces.