Eur. Phys. J. D (2013) 67: 176
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2013-40148-8

Regular Article

Transient calorimetric diagnostics for plasma processing

Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Kiel University, Germany

^a e-mail: bornholdt@physik.uni-kiel.de

Received: 15 March 2013
Received in final form: 10 June 2013
Published online: 6 August 2013

Abstract

This paper reports on an improvement of the calorimetric method for the determination of energy fluxes from plasma towards substrates by using a transient technique. It provides a short overview of the traditional method used for characterization of plasma-wall-interactions during plasma processing. The mathematical framework of the method and possible implications are discussed. It is shown how the method can be improved to obtain additional and detailed information about the energy influx in a shorter measurement time. For this purpose, the probe bias (if applied), which has commonly been kept constant is varied like in Langmuir probe measurements. The experimental validation of the theoretical considerations emphasizes the potential of the method for control in plasma processing. The possibility how the passive calorimetric probe can be used in continuous measurements for process monitoring without any feedback loops used by other probes, is finally discussed.