Floating probe for electron temperature and ion density measurement applicable to processing plasmas

A floating-type probe and its driving circuit using the nonlinear characteristics of the probe sheath was developed and the electron temperature and the plasma density which is found from the ion part of the probe characteristic (ion density) were measured in inductively coupled plasmas. The floating-type probe was compared with a single Langmuir probe and it turned out that the floating-type probe agrees closely with the single probe at various rf powers and pressures. The ion density and electron temperature by the floating-type probe were measured with a film on the probe tip coated in CF4 plasma. It is found that the ion density and electron temperature by the floating-type probe were almost the same regardless of the coating on the probe tip while a single Langmuir probe does not work. Because the floating-type probe is hardly affected by the deposition on the probe tip, it is expected to be applied to plasma diagnostics for plasma processing such as deposition or etching. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.