Colorimetric polydiacetylene for plasma diagnostics

Low temperature reactive plasmas have been widely used in various nanofabrication processes. We have developed a large area wafer-type colorimetric plasma diagnostic system based on a polymerizable supramolecular sensor (PSS). The supramolecular diacetylene based PSS allows efficient mapping of the ion density distribution. The colour change of the thin PSS film was found to be very sensitive to plasma and afforded a real time colorimetric and fluorometric monitoring of spatial ion density distribution. This PSS method, which does not require electrical circuits and batteries, will find great utility in the field of plasma diagnostics.