Measurement for dissociation ratio of source gases in plasmas using a quartz sensor

The dissociation ratio of source gas molecules is measured using a quartz sensor, for which the output depends on the average molecular weight and viscosity of gases. The change in the pressure and temperature-normalized quartz sensor output (NQO) by discharge correlates with changes of the signal intensity of the source gas of ammonia (NH3), as measured by gas analysis using a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Thereby, the dissociation ratio is obtainable from the change in NQO by the discharge. The spatial distributions of the change in NQO in the plasma chamber show a larger change in NQO near the plasma electrode, indicating that the change in NQO correlates with the dissociation ratio of NH3. Finally, the dissociation ratios of NH3 near and between the plasma electrodes were obtained from the spatial distribution of the dissociation ratio of NH3. Results show that the Q-sensor measurement is simple and useful to derive the dissociation ratio of the source gases for the plasmas of reactive gases.