Inductively coupled Cl2/N2 plasma: Experimental investigation and modeling

In this work, we investigated the effect of the Cl2/N2 mixing ratio on both the plasma parameters and the volume densities of the neutral and the charged particles in inductively coupled plasma system. It was found that the addition of nitrogen to chlorine causes an increase in the electron temperature while the electron density and the total density of positive ions decrease. The analysis of Cl2 dissociation kinetics showed the weak possibility of stepwise dissociation involving electronically excited metastable molecules N2∗(A3Σu+) as well as vibrationally excited nitrogen. Both plasma diagnostics and modeling gave a monotonic change of Cl atom density as a function of Cl2/N2 mixing ratio.