Samenvatting

The characteristics of a hydrogen plasma in an inductively coupled RF plasma setup were studied using a double Langmuir probe and an optical emission spectrometer. At various settings for the gas pressure, gas ow, RF power and probe position, values were obtained for the electron temperature and plasma density. Additionally, the hydrogen dissociation degree was measured inside the discharge. In the discharge, the maximum electron temperature is (3.9 0.5) eV at 300 W, 5.0 Pa. This value decreases by 0.5 - 1 eV when the power is decreased or when the pressure is increased. At distances up to 90 mm from the discharge, the electron temperature also decreases by 0.5 - 1 eV. The plasma density inside the discharge depends linearly on power, but is independent of pressure (between 5.0 and 35.0 Pa) at (1:0+0:2 0:4) 1017 m 3 for P = 300 W. Away from the discharge there is still a plasma, but the density decreases exponentially, depending on the pressure by 2 (at 5.0 Pa) to 3 (at 35.0 Pa) orders of magnitude at 90 mm from the discharge. The degree of dissociation in the discharge lies between (1:5 0:4)% at 5.0 Pa and (0:8 0:4)% at 35.0 Pa for 300 W RF power. The atomic hydrogen density increases with background pressure and is maximum at (7 3) 1019 m 3 at 35 Pa, 300 W. No changes in the plasma were observed upon changes of the hydrogen ow between 20 and 60 sccm.