Oxygen atom density in microwave oxygen plasma

We determined the density of neutral oxygen atoms in microwave plasma using a fiber-optics catalytic probe (FOCP). Plasma was created within a quartz tube with an outer diameter of 5 cm by a 2.45 GHz microwave generator with an output power up to 1000 W. The oxygen flow was varied between 4 and 20 1/h. The O-atom density was found to increase monotonically with the increasing discharge power, and it decreased with the increasing flow rate. The degree of dissociation of oxygen molecules in the plasma column depended largely on the flow rate. At the oxygen flow of 4 1/h, it was about 18% but it decreased to about 6% at the flow of 20 1/h. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.