Spectroscopic and modeling investigations of the gas-phase chemistry and composition in microwave plasma activated B2H6/Ar/H2 mixtures.

This paper describes a three-pronged study of microwave (MW) activated B(2)H(6)/Ar/H(2) plasmas as a precursor to diagnosis of the B(2)H(6)/CH(4)/Ar/H(2) plasmas used for the chemical vapor deposition of B-doped diamond. Absolute column densities of B atoms and BH radicals have been determined by cavity ring-down spectroscopy as a function of height (z) above a molybdenum substrate and of the plasma process conditions (B(2)H(6) and Ar partial pressures, total pressure, and supplied MW power). Optical emission spectroscopy has been used to explore variations in the relative densities of electronically excited BH, H, and H(2) species as a function of the same process conditions and of time after introducing B(2)H(6) into a pre-existing Ar/H(2) plasma. The experimental measurements are complemented by extensive 2-D(r, z) modeling of the plasma chemistry, which results in refinements to the existing B/H chemistry and thermochemistry and demonstrates the potentially substantial loss of gas-phase BH(x) species through reaction with trace quantities of air/O(2) in the process gas mixture and heterogeneous processes occurring at the reactor wall.