Transport of electrons in Ar/H₂ mixtures

Institute of Physics, University of Belgrade - POB 68, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia

^(a) zoran@ipb.ac.rs

Received: 22 February 2012
Accepted: 12 July 2012

Abstract

In this work we present transport coefficients for electrons in Ar/H₂ mixtures for the conditions used in plasma-assisted technologies for semiconductor production, i.e., in moderate and very high E/N. We used a two-term numerical solution of the Boltzmann equation at the lowest E/N (E is the electric field; N is the gas density) and correspondingly at the lowest mean energies. We also use the Monte Carlo simulation technique at moderate and high E/N. We show that a good agreement with experimental data exists for low and moderate E/N and that based on the tests for pure H₂ and Ar we can model properly the swarm properties at high E/N. For the conditions of very high electric fields runaway peaks develop in the electron energy distribution function and appreciable contribution of backscattered high-energy electrons produces additional emission of H_α emission close to the anode (made of stainless steel). Results are obtained for abundances of H₂ from 1% to 30%, which are necessary in kinetic models for this mixture in a number of applications.